Forward Unto Dawn
by wiltheavatar
Summary: He fought during the First Nova Clash, fought for the future of humanity well paying his life as a price. Instead of dying as he thought he had, he slumbered, waiting for the time when mankind faces a crisis they cannot solve.
1. Chapter 1

Forward Unto Dawn

Chapter 1: The Sun Rises as a Hero Falls

* * *

It was this dream again.

I stood there, on top of a hill made of swords. My time had come, indeed, from the wounds I have received I am not foolish enough to believe I will last.

I've had this dream countless times, yes, it was the moment I made the contract with the Goddess Alaya. A contract that left me broken, cheated, the contract I made to save a hundred people. Now is the time I will damn myself to an infinite cycle of death and destruction.

The sun shined in my face so I had to squint my eyes to survey the wreckage before me. It laid there broken, dead, for all the world to see. Such a monstrosity, a titan of two hundred meters, truly worthy of its status as a phantasmal beast. But I have bested it like heroes before myself had, fought it unlike the knights of fairy tales. I bled, I sweated, I gave all I had against this monster. I sacrificed my people, I cracked my blades with each stroke, with force and conviction I imbued in every single one of my blows.

It had been no fairy tale, the casualties on human's side can attest. We as humans fought for our survival, fought not only for ourselves, but for the future of our species. It ended with blood, blood spilled across the city that had been my home, but mankind had persevered, no, I had persevered. I defeated the being, at the price of my life and the lives of my comrades in arms.

The curtains had drawn in conclusion of our play, but I refused to fall, I held myself up like Cu Chulainn had done. I leaned onto the same spear he leaned upon. The demonic spear made of a sea monster's bone. Gae Bolg supported my weight if only barely, it let me stand, stand to face my death. I shall die standing an on my own terms, like a hero would.

As the darkness threatened to invade my sight I could not help but appreciate the beauty of the rising sun. The radiance of the burning sphere slowly climbing to its rightful place astounded me. It was not just the light that put a smile on my face, it was the hope that illuminated my darkened features. My vision continued to be consumed by darkness, but still I smiled.

My death was here, dying under the presence of the dawn, the rays of new hope, the future I had won for humanity. I was content, I was ready for what came next. My strength slowly escaped me as I let go of the spear I was leaning on for support. I nearly stumbled, but I caught myself, I will not fall here. My strength was on its last leg before fully exiting my body, the od that normally circulated through my system no longer flowed as they should. They too stumbled, slowed down, leaving my dying body, exiting into the Earth and returning to Gaea.

I stood there, a peaceful smile on my face as I painstakingly reached out towards the morning sun. I clenched my outstretched hand into a fist, raising it against the against the rising dawn. It was light, my light, my hope for the future of humanity.

It was beautiful as I closed my eyes, my fist raised into the sky, my rebellion, my retribution against the monsters.

As I closed my eyes all I could remember was one thought, Alaya never appeared.

"He sleeps here in his eternal slumber,

waiting for mankind to face a crisis,

A crisis he cannot solve.

When all hope seems lost,

Pray to the Goddess

And he will awaken

Him, a warrior born of swords. "

* * *

A/N:

This will be a Freezing/Fate Stay Night crossover. I actually don't do crossovers, but now I am focusing on it. This is the first chapter of an idea I had, I'm not so sure where I will take this. Updates will be slow due to college apps, those are really a menace. I hope people can take time and review this.

I've never really researched Freezing, so I will base most of the mechanics off the wiki, it should work fine. I think Fate/Stay Night is a really good resource for characters and mechanics, but I've never felt that Fate/Stay Night had such a great linear plot line with two weeks.

Anyhow, do take the time to read and review, I hope my next chapter will be up in two weeks? It will definitely be longer, this is just a prologue

As for the name, I based it obviously off Halo 4, and Bleedndream's Forward Unto Dawn, a HOTD/Naruto Crossover, I give them credit


	2. Forward Unto Dawn 2: His Return

Forward unto Dawn

* * *

Chapter 2: His Return

* * *

There was the buzzing of a helicopter sounding across the otherwise quite bay. She sat aboard the chopper, doors opened, the strong cold breeze causing her black hair to flutter behind her. She sat on her transport, ready to touchdown in a few moments, in the corner of her eyes she could see a shining white tower. Her strengthened eyes told her that it was no tower at all, instead it seemed more like a titanic statue with polished surface reflecting the rays of lights that had been pointed at the being through spotlights mounted near the sea. From the distance she could see the remains of a first response fleet, shattered and broken, from the looks of it any chances for survival of the crew would be extremely low, after all there had been cases of normal humans getting killed by a Nova's freezing.

On the helicopter approaching the actual bay area Aoi Kazuha could not help but feel slightly intimidated at the prospect of fighting a S-class NOVA. She was ready, her training demanded her to be ready, but her heart was not ready at all. She was nervous, she was trained to fight the bane of mankind, but it will be her first time fighting against those monstrosities, she could not help it but feel slightly afraid. Shivering both from the wind and the prospect of fighting that white statue in a distance Aoi Kazuha lightly slapped her cheeks to bring herself back into attention, however she felt that her action did not really help her anxiety.

The helicopter landed only a few seconds after her little pep up for herself. She stepped off the chopper with light and trained steps, she was not ready, but she was ready. A paradox, but it described her predicament perfectly. See had the air of confidence, her long hair flying behind her, her yellow eyes opened widely and her expression stern. She was the leader here, she could not afford to show any weakness, she needed to remain strong.

Anyone watching her might have been intimidated. She was beautiful, that was for sure, her eyes were big and olive-shaped, she was not short, but at the same time not intimidatingly tall. Her long hair, her physique, and her face would have defined her as a classical Japanese beauty, but that was not all she was. Aoi Kazuha was a PANDORA, a human with a genetic makeup with a degree of similarity to NOVA, the bane of mankind. She like her fellow PANDORAs had stigmas, a crystallization of genetic material originating from NOVAs themselves.

Not only was the beauty named Aoi Kazuha a PANDORA, she was also the strongest PANDORA. A member of the elite platoon Numbers she climbed through the four people team into something akin to leader of the squad. Her beauty and her soft appearance was a deception, what laid within her was a heart of steel, one that was made in order to preserve humanity and ensure humanity's survival by fighting against the alien invaders that seemed to arrive every eight years.

She approached a group of similarly aged girls and boys. Each one was panting, bleeding, a few males in the group weathered a bit better, exhausted but not necessarily injured."Report status PANDORA Kim." A shoulder length brunette closest to her finally noticed a new operative joining their midst.

With a stutter she half stumbled towards Kazuha, "Thank goodness, Kazuha, your finally here, thank god." Kazuha was ushered in by a weakly smiling Yu-Mi Kim, an elite PANDORA also friend of Kazuha. Upon hearing Yu-Mi address the newest edition to the platoon everyone snapped to attention standing straight despite some of the injuries the PANDORAs had suffered.

Aoi's presence seemed to inspire confidence. What seemed to be a group of defeated and exhausted warriors immediately turned into a well-regulated army. The fighters stood in a semicircle formation surrounding Kazuha Aoi as the Korean PANDORA started giving their de facto platoon leader a briefing. "Twenty minutes ago a S-class NOVA materialized roughly thirty klicks out West in the ocean. Upon arrival the first response fleet along with two PANDORA operatives were instantly annihilated on contact. The freezing field produced by the S-class NOVA was classified as class-3 threat, according to the PANDORAs aboard the fleet before their termination the human operatives were instantly killed by the NOVA's freezing field." PANDORA Kim paused to let Aoi process the information.

'Instant death through the freezing field?' Kazuha was slightly worried. She never had a Limiter, never needed one, a field of that strength was not unheard of, from previous information it seemed to be equipped more on R-class NOVAs with more specialized purposes. They seemed to trade power and armor prowess for a stronger freezing field. Such a weapon was dangerous against weaker NOVAs due to their lack of PANDORA-mode, but for elite PANDORAs with PANDORA-mode the slow should be small enough to be neglected.

Even so such an evolution only showed that the NOVAs are changing, they are evolving along with mankind. It was a concern that the NOVAs are also progressing, they are already a bane of mankind that humanity needed to pull every resource together to counter, the fact that the alien race is also growing brought growing concern to the leaders of mankind.

PANDORA Kim continued with her briefing after giving Kazuha roughly a minute to process the information she had given. "Contact is in five minutes, we did try to engage the enemy NOVA before your arrival since we thought the ocean would reduce the mobility of the NOVA leaving it vulnerable, however, we were forced to retreat after four operatives were killed-in-action. The ocean did lower its mobility, but unlike previous NOVAs with class-3 freezing field this one's a S-class, its armor and offensive capabilities are still top notch."

Aoi nodded in agreement with her friend's response and action call. Engaging the NOVA in the ocean was a decent idea since the NOVA's massive body frame will cause massive water resistance, her call to retreat after four PANDORAs were lost was also a good decision. Any elite PANDORAs killed-in-action was detrimental to the safety of mankind in the future. "At east PANDORA." The Japanese beauty finally said with a tone of resignation. The situation seemed pretty bleak, but there has to be hope. She waved to dismiss the PANDORAs standing in formation in front of her as she turned to contemplate the crisis as well as observe the enemy and its movements from the previous engagement.

It was a monster, that was all she could say after watching a quick spotlight on the engagement with S-03, or third S-class humanity had faced. This of course did not include the first NOVA clash since the first clash was not well documented due to the fact humanity was in ruins from the first invasion.

What she saw worried her, a 150-meter monstrosity. It's freezing field was a problem, its huge size and thick armor was another problem, and the fact it seemed to keep moving forward without bothering with most of the PANDORAs until they got in its way was a problem. The analysts concluded that it was aiming to invade the bay and cause damage to the human city and surrounding areas. It was different from other clashes' invaders since they all tended to target the closest living thing.

The first response fleet had been ripped apart. They were ready since scientists tended to have hours of warning before the actual invasion. The fleet was there with all their big guns and missiles pointed in the estimated point of arrival, and the NOVA was on time and on target, but the fleet was still obliterated. From what Kazuha saw from the video upon materializing pretty much every human in the vicinity of the NOVA's freezing field dropped dead instantly. Some guns and missiles were fired, but not many, at least not enough to pierce the heavy armor that protected the NOVA. The two PANDORAs and their Limiters tried to fight the alien invader. They were ready as well with the Limiters instantly casting an anti-freezing field around their partner, but when the two PANDORAs engaged the two were instantly killed with a simple slap from the hand of the NOVA which was the size of a small house.

150-meters was a serious size, roughly equivalent to a forty-five floor skyscraper, that was pretty damned tall. Its armor seemed to be class-3, the strongest, there didn't seem to be any special offensive capabilities some specialized NOVAs used, but the size and armor by itself was a serious problem. Aoi Kazuha was definitely worried, the lack of information she and her team had before engaging definitely created an anxiety within normally confident self.

What was ironic about the battle was the battlefield itself. This was a historic place to Japan and the world, in fact, this gulf bay area had not been underwater roughly fifty years before, yes, this place had once been land, it wasn't even that long ago. The designated battlefield had been a moderately populated city stretching several kilometers, the site of the first NOVA clash.

The first clash had been severe in its impact on the environment, the fight between the NOVA and the humans resulted in massive destruction and craters. The city that once stood here was vaporized, the soil was weakened, and it collapsed after a few years by an earthquake. In fact, deep under the ocean laid the carcass of the first NOVA to invade humanity, it was never recovered since humanity did not have the resources to recover and study the NOVA due to the disarray the invasion caused.

This land was definitely cursed, it had been a city once, a wasteland afterwards, and lastly it became an ocean. It was a city that sank like the legendary Atlantis, a moderate city with no specialties except disasters; its name was Fuyuki City.

* * *

Standing under the moonlight made her seem like a goddess. The moon shone on her slick dark hair and reflected off the hair showing its smoothness. She stood there, thinking about her incoming battle, how she and her team will fight, and mostly, her victory. She thought of victory the most, she wanted to have the proper mindset, the mindset of a victorious warrior. She had to win, she needed to win, she carried not only the weight of her beloved brother's life on her back, but also the lives of this world, of humanity.

"Two minutes." The operator sounded from the headset she had on. It was a mechanical voice, but the voice brought out Kazuha's battle spirit, the operator will be the team's information relay. In the heat of battle anyone would find it hard to speak clearly and in coherent voices. The operator will translate jumbled speech into well-annunciated language. It symbolized the beginning of the battle. It was a battle Aoi had every mind to emerge victorious.

'I am the strongest.' Aoi thought to herself, 'I will not fall.' She clapped her cheeks again to focus. 'I will stand,' she cracked her knuckles. 'I am victorious.' She believed. Aoi was no stranger to a PANDORA's job, but it was her first time facing a live NOVA, but she was as ready as she can be. She repeated her mantra to herself several times to get her mindset right. She will not fail her brother, she promised him she will be home.

Her resolve was hardened, ready for battle. She needed everything her training had drilled into her. This battle will be putting her abilities to the ultimate test here, most PANDORAs only participate in one or two NOVA clashes, Kazuha Aoi was determined to survive her first. She was the ace of humanity, and she knew what she needed to do.

"Volt weapon: Nova Blood." She incanted as she threw her arms out. A blue light flickered with glowing hexagons inscribing the air immediately next to her outstretched arms. The bluish lights continued to expand into the shape of a large block, then it thinned. A flicker later the bluish tint in the air flared then all light was gone, instead of the shining display a fully solidified weapon laid in the hands of Kazuha Aoi, the ultimate PANDORA.

"Nova Blood…" Aoi muttered to herself as she tested the weight of the weapon in her hands. There was no problem, there could be no problems, after all every time she materialized her volt weapon it would be the same. It was within her, a concept, the crystallization of her beliefs to defeat NOVAs. It was a short sword, a sword that is too short to be a sword but too wide and long to be a knife. An irregularity, a brutal looking flat piece of sharpened steel used for the sole purpose of delivering violence.

She gave the thin sheet of sharpened steel an experimental twirl, allowing the moonlight to reflect off the broad flat of the sword. She found no fault as she always did, a habit she picked up when she prepared for battle, her ritual for her to perform to her highest capabilities.

She did not want to fight, she'd rather be at home with her brother Kazuya. She wanted to be at his side singing him lullabies, tucking him in, cooking for him. Kazuha Aoi loved her little brother very much, but she knew that the future of the world depended on her, rested in her hands. She was hailed as the strongest PANDORA, she needed to be here to lead her team.

"Thirty seconds until contact." The operator informed the group ready to pit their lives against a seemingly impossible enemy. The PANDORAs bid their Limiters farewell, each ready to give up their lives for the sake of humanity. The chances of each pair reuniting seemed low. Instead of having Limiters producing a field which would create a time limit for the PANDORAs causing unnecessary constraints, the killing ground had been prepared with anti-freezing machines already set up in the proximity covering ten miles perimeter.

Kazuha Aoi did not have a limiter to bid farewells to, she did not need one. She had a natural resistance against freezing, and her PANDORA-mode took care of the rest. She already talked to her brother before leaving the house, she was content, she was ready.

The mechanical voice resounded through each PANDORA's headset which was already filled with despair. "All PANDORAs prepare for combat, anti-freezing field established, operation is a go."

All sobbing and heartfelt goodbyes disappeared in a moment. The PANDORAs stood in a line, Kazuha in front of them all with her weapon drawn. She pointed towards the enemy NOVA approaching them but still a fair distance away. "Ereinbar Set." Multiple incatations sounded as Kazuha stared at her enemy. The other PANDORAs still synced with their Limiters so they can provide analysis during battle through the sense synchronization. The 150-meter enemy stood tall, dauntless, indomitable.

She was not afraid, Aoi Kazuha was not afraid. She pointed her blade at the NOVA, and screamed. "PANDORAs, charge." It was brief, but she go the message across. It was a war cry, and the whole platoon instantly disappeared in a flicker of blue light. The fight was on.

* * *

"Incoming left flank." Aoi's headset informed her as she and her team of roughly twenty PANDORAs all jumped up from the artificially frozen ocean to evade the incoming attack. The water surface had been frozen with a machine and abundant use of chemicals in order to stage a battleground for the PANDORAs who unlike the NOVAs needed something to run on. That being said if the NOVA stood 150 meters wading through the water it must be roughly 165 meters tall, the bay area was pretty shallow since it was once land.

The NOVA was huge, very titanic. The team of humans looked like ants in comparison with such a titan, its sculptured surface shining against the spotlights like polished marble. It had a face, or at least what looked like a humanoid face, but there was no expression, no feelings, no emotions, very much similar to a statue. Its body was disproportionate with long arms and a strange white headdress and tentacle looking things flowing around with their own erratic movements.

The NOVA was almost pure white, but on closer inspection there was a slight yellowish color adorning it, plates of yellow interlaced with the white majority protecting the NOVA. In the center of the creature was a turquoise orb that glowed magnificently in the darkness of the light. Despite the rays of light shining on this unnatural being it still had an aura of exotic beauty, like how one would appreciate a foreign dancer. It was also unnaturally skinny, almost frail looking, yet it stood strong as missiles of different sizes and bullets smashed against its armor.

From where Kazuha Aoi was, she could see the almost imperceptible hexagons outlined in black. These hexagons covered the entirety of the NOVA's armor, pieced together like a beehive and acting as scales. The scales all gleamed with unnaturalness, capturing the rays of light shining upon it, reflecting the light, making the light much more intense then it had been.

The NOVA by definition was a monster. There was no other word to distinguish such an existence, a monster that could withstand everything that humanity threw at it. The missiles exploded on impact not even creating a dent in its shell, the bullets filled with depleted uranium found no purchase within the hard armor merely dropping to the ground after impacting, not even scratching the hexagonal scales. The PANDORAs did not fare much better, the freezing field created by the NOVA already lowered their efficiency, and the damage dealt by their volt weapon was almost nonexistent. Class-3 armor did not define this NOVA's defense, the only reason this NOV had class-3 armor was that there were simply no NOVA with stronger armor, and it had reached the height of human classification.

Despite the NOVA's impenetrable defense the PANDORAs had not suffered any damage either. They were able to evade every attack the NOVA sent at them, but Kazuha knew something was wrong. It smelled like rotten fish, the NOVA ignored them, it must have a mission of some kind. In the course of twenty minutes the PANDORAs had been fighting the NOVA it only made half-assed attempts at their lives, and only if they were impeding its way. 'It must have a special purpose for being here, a battering ram? Did it want to target the city, probably not, the city didn't have anything worth destroying. But why was it so easy then?' The PANDORA with lustrous hair could not help but doubt the NOVA's intentions, her comrades were blitzing around the creature in accel turn, running the NOVA in circles, but neither side had sustained serious damage.

It kept moving forward, slowly, very slowly. The white and yellow alien moved forward with a one-track mind, wading through the tons of water that surrounded its feet and breaking the frozen surface of the water at every lurch forward. It was definitely hiding something, and frankly Kazuha did not want to find out what it was trying to do. "Regroup team."

"Roger that." "Copy that." Her headset immediately replied to her order.

The black haired swordsman stopped at a point which put a little distance between herself and the NOVA. Several flickers of blue light were visible around her as the eighteen PANDORAs circled around her as she motioned with a her raised hand waving in a circular motion.

"What's the problem boss?" a PANDORA with purple ponytail asked with a questioning tone. She did not doubt her leader one bit but the order to retreat well the fight had been going well was indeed strange.

There was a slight murmur amongst the team since they were all confused, but when Aoi spoke they were all silent. "It had been twenty minutes since engagement and we had not even lost one PANDORA, not even to injuries, this is the problem"

"Isn't that good though?" A redhead with short cropped hair asked in between the pause from her leader's explanation.

With a brief nod Kazuha agreed to her statement, but continued to elaborate. "Under normal circumstances I would agree with PANDORA Emily Hoover, but not here." There was a slight murmur amongst her audience but she silenced them with a raised arm. "No, it was going too well, the NOVA practically ignored us, this is wrong, a NOVA clash is not supposed to be like this, it must have a purpose, there is something wrong."

PANDORA Yu-Mi Kim nodded to Aoi's statement, "Indeed, that bastard seems to only slap us when we get too close."

"True." "Yeah, I noticed that." The PANDORAs agreed to their senior's assessment on the NOVA.

The Korean PANDORA continued, "It seemed to be moving forward, and only forward, Kazuha is right, something is wrong here."

Aoi nodded in appreciation at her friend's support, "Yes, PANDORA Kim is correct in her deduction, the S-class NOVA seems to only move forward, it must have an aim of some kind."

"There's no facilities in the city, and it's like miles from the nearest heavily populated area, what could it be doing?" A blonde PANDORA with a spear said from the audience.

At this Aoi looked a bit troubled, but at the same time the NOVA stopped in the distance. Then there was a rumble. The leader of the regiment sighed, "It seems that we are going to find out." She waved her arms, "Scatter, aim for the joints, may god aid us in battle."

"Copy that." "Got it boss." There was a flicker of blue light as the whole team dispersed once again at the NOVA's strange behavior.

* * *

Kazuha Aoi stared in horror as the NOVA in the distance howled into the sky. It was an ear piercing scream accompanied by a display of light unlike any Kazuha had seen before. There was nothing like this, no NOVA from the past ever did this, it was something completely new, and new is always bad when NOVAs are involved. The whole ocean was filled with light, pulsating with energy, the frozen surface of the ocean seemed to crumble as the PANDORAs were forced to retreat backwards to not sink into the water.

"Fuck is he doing?" Someone uttered on the intercom.

"Hell?"

"Regroup PANDORAs, prepare for unknown engagement." Now Kazuha Aoi really wasn't that sure of her survival. Engagement against unknown abilities tends to leave heavy casualties, sometimes a NOVA would roam for days before its abilities are finally countered and brought down.

Like they had previously done eighteen PANDORAs regrouped a distance from the NOVA where the ice remained solid. Seventeen of them circled around Kazuha Aoi in order to have a team conference. They were all scared, they had the right to be in the face of the unknown. Kazuha herself was shaken, slightly shivering in anxiousness. There was no telling on what was going to happen, like she had previously predicted that NOVA had a specialized purpose, whatever that purpose was it definitely didn't bode well for the PANDORAs. Even so, Kazuha knew she had to be brave. 'Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. I am the strongest.' Aoi thought to herself, 'I will not fall.' She clapped her cheeks again to focus. 'I will stand,' she cracked her knuckles. 'I am victorious.' She prepared her ritual again, and it made her strong.

"PANDORAs." She shouted out after preparing her mind for what was to happen next. "Today we face something unknown. S-03 had done something we have no previous records of." She paused a moment bringing her blade up glinting under the moonlight. "But we will not fall, think of those we have left behind." She let her energy course around illuminating the area surrounding her in a gentle blue. "We will not run, think of the others that reside in this planet besides us. We will not fear, for fear will grip us in the cold embrace of death." The light flickering around her intensified, pulsating energy into the ground and saturating the air much like what the NOVA had done. "Instead we will fight, despite the odds that stand against us. We will fight for those we left at home, those who we love and swear to protect. We will persevere. If our hands are removed we will kick. When our legs are dismembered we will bite. We will inch forward with everything we have. We have not only bear the weight of our loved ones on our back, but the weight of the entire world. Together we are strong, I promise you , my fellow PANDORAs, together…" Her eyes shone with the same intensity as her energy swirling around her in a maelstrom. "together…we will…be VICTORIOUS." Then her held in energy exploded outwards blasting a pillar of light into the sky rivaling the NOVA in a distance. "We will…be victorious." She pointed Nova Blood into the sky catching the moonlight on the edge of her blade. The PANDORAs surrounding her screamed in acceptance at Kazuha's words. Their leader has spoken, and they will follow her to the end.

"Tonight we may bleed, tonight we may sweat, but even in the darkest nights the sun will rise. Forward unto dawn." The normally timid girl roared allowing more of her energy to flow into the air. Her fellow PANDORAs screamed with her, their weapons held upwards the same way she held her sword. The atmosphere turned from being tense to overwhelming passion. They will all fight to the end in order to protect what mattered.

A second howl stopped the PANDORAs' passionate war cry. The PANDORAs all turned to face the NOVA and its field of light, what came next rained despair on their preparation for war. The remaining frozen surface of the ocean started to fracture, cackling, breaking apart. It was slow at first, then the shattering spread like a spider web, proliferating around the frozen plain.

Time seemed to slow down as a sharp white point protruded the cracked sheet of ice. It rose, ever so slowly, a sharp, white spike slowly rising from the ocean. It was a cone at first, with reinforced eyes the PANDORAs could see the same hexagonal pattern like the NOVA screaming at the sky. Then came something, something incomprehensible, something that inspired fear in the minds of the observers.

It rose, the cone with hexagonal patterning rose inch by inch out of the ocean and into the open air. Water crashed down from the displacement of an immense object leaving the clutches of the ocean. It was white, ivory white. It was big, very big. It had a face, the same emotionless face humans feared. It was a statue, a statue so big it made the NOVA next to it seem like a child compared to an adult. It had the same disproportioned body with long arms, skinny body, long legs, and a headdress with unmoving tentacles. In the center of its chest was an orb, a blank orb with no light.

The sound of a horn resonated through the silent night since the NOVA stopped screaming after its last howl. The blasting of a horn so clear it blared for miles. Every PANDORA cringed at the sound as it seemed to resonate with their very existence. The most unfortunate thing was, the horn sounded from the statue The monster of a statue standing 180-meters tall with parts of it still underwater.

The horn blared again, this time the statue seemed to whirl with life. The hexagonal patterns shined and flickered with seemingly random schemes, the orb in its chest became obsidian black, a paradox, an orb filled with darkness yet still shines like a sun. It face lit as well, the emotionless features being covered by a blue glow. The slits it had for eyes lit up creating a spotlight glaring forward, its whip-like attachment to its headdress writhing with life. The PANDORAs could see the drill like point of each individual feeler, just seeing the sharp point and twisted drill brought a chill down the PANDORAs spine. They knew one thing, this was going to be tough.

"Roarrrrrrr…" The second monster howled again, a sudden pressure pressing onto the atmosphere. Kazuha almost stumbled at the sudden weight put upon her, in fact, a few of her PANDORAs did fall, the pressure the NOVA emitted was indeed immense. It slowly rose from the water, then with another howl the ocean surrounding the NOVA was split. Instead of the water covering its legs there was now an empty crater, an invisible wall holding up the ocean as the being levitated in the air. It then turned to face the PANDORAs, and the PANDORAs gulped at what is to come.

"Shit, what the fuck?" "Another one?" "The hell?"

Kazuha motioned for the PANDORAs to spread out, and it was good that they did, light seemed to gather around the dark orb of the NOVA, then "Zammmmmmmm…." A beam of light speared from the alien's chest not a minute later, two shell shocked PANDORAs caught in the beam was instantly annihilated.

"Rosa, Anna." Emily screamed with her long red hair trailing behind her as she jumped as hard as she could. "Noooo…" Her spear was lowered as she turned to face the NOVA which repositioned itself to face the retreating PANDORAs, "You bastard." She felt a stream of tears run down her cheek as she readied herself for a charge. "You bastard, you bastard, you bastard, you bastard." Blue light enveloped her as she readied her stance to spring forward. "Fuck you." She yelled as she charged, only to be held back by Kim Yu-Mi. "Yu-Mi...what?" She yelled surprised.

The brunette with shoulder length hair slowly shook her head with a sad smile. She placed her hand on her shoulder and said with a soft voice, "No Emily, you can't, we need you now."

It was rare for the famed Kim Yu-Mi of Number to show affection and tenderness, but this was the first time she faced casualties and she too was shocked, she didn't know what to do. The redhead felt her tears stream from her eyes, she held her comrade's hand.

"What the fuck are you guys doing?" They heard a shout as Elize Schimtz suddenly grabbed them both and accelerated the trio out of another burst of killing light. "Don't just stand there, move."

Together the brunette and the redhead saluted to their green haired teammate. "Yes ma'am." Emily used her sleeve to wipe off the tears in her eyes and readied her spear. Kim Yu-Mi readied a spear of her own as they both dashed apart from each other to rejoin the fray.

* * *

Kazuha Aoi made a charge for the NOVAs, yes NOVAs, as in plural. This was the first recorded incident of more than one NOVA, and it was bad. She dashed with her upmost speed, only to sidestep as she almost go skewered by a blade. 'What the?' She thought to herself as she jumped back to put distance between herself and her assailant. What she saw confused her, it was a marine, the operative word being was. It was a marine, and it wasn't a marine.

It had a human frame, it had probably once been human. It wore the blue uniform of the Navy and had a hunting knife in one hand. He's other hand held a pistol, a Colt M1911, a classic from the olden times. What was different wasn't its shape or its weapons, but its feel. There was a different feeling wafting off this man, there were spikes protruding from his back, and his eyes were unfocused, his pupils dilated. 'What the?' Kazuha had no time to reassess the situation as the man suddenly lunged at her with inhuman speed causing her to sidestep on reflex and strike him, only to have him block Nova Blood with his hunting knife. It was fast, that was all Kazuha could think as it struck again with a flurry of blows forcing the long haired beauty on the defensive as she tried to parry every knife stab and slash. Her training kicked in as she deflected each blow thanks to her reflex and finally found an opening to kick the man in the stomach forcing him back. "Sorry." she muttered as she accelerated behind the man and stabbed forward right into his head and splitting it. 'What the fuck was that?' She asked herself as she proceeded to speed towards the NOVA with as much haste as she could afford well she dodged around the humans with spikes.

* * *

I opened my eyes, the darkness slowly dispersing from the edges of my vision. It was strange, why could I open my eyes again when I had already died. I remembered my death, very well in fact, I remembered the glory I had fighting the monster that appeared in this world. I was on solid ground, the place of my demise. But what laid in front of me shocked me; what was once my home Fuyuki City was now covered in water, in fact, it seemed like it had sunk since there was a sea in front of me.

Aside from the sunken remains of my home there were other things in the distance. With a bit of od entering my eyes I was able to reinforce my twin orbs to see further than what was humanly possible. It was strange, a colossal being of ivory towering into the sky, and next to it stood my adversary. Just seeing it made my blood boil, it brought an intensity of hatred into my glass heart, but at the same time I was filled with despair. It took my sacrifice to defeat that behemoth, my existence is close to that of a heroic spirit, it will be next to impossible for humans to even stand against that brute.

As a testament of my thoughts I saw blue flickers running around the two creatures. Upon inspection it showed the flickers of light as human, not magus for sure but humans using magecraft to a certain extent. They each held a weapon made primarily of od, it took shape in many shapes and forms: swords, spears, daggers, chains, and many other weapons even I have rarely seen. I would suppose they are some kind of counterforce against the creature, but from what I observe they are either having trouble or not very good at doing their job. They sped around the two creatures with extreme speed, speed that even I would need to "try" to catch up, they stabbed and hacked at their enemies but there was no damage. No damage whatsoever was dealt to the duo monstrosity.

Having fought the bigger one of the duo I knew those people were more than likely fucked. My nemesis hadn't even started fighting, where was the magic cannon it had when I warred with it? Where was the tentacles that shred everything in its path? Where was the bounded field that killed people just for being near it? These humans are lucky, it was probably just recovering from its slumber very much like myself, but I was a human, I was trained to fight, that thing needed time to get ready. It's now or never, it must be killed before it gets too strong.

Then my arch nemesis howled flooding the area with its magic. I remembered this particular technique, annoying and powerful. My allies and I had trouble against it, we called it "Everlasting March." What it did was erect some sort of bounded field with the creature itself as a epicenter, it pumps its magic into the bounded field saturating the area, then reanimates corpses into minions under its control. Minions, we called it minions but they were not really minions, they were not like weak skeletons summoned by Medea, they were more like ghouls with extreme physical capabilities, a perfect counter against most magi who relied heavily on ranged combat.

The people fighting my enemy would fare a lot better than my allies had, they seemed to be trained primarily in close combat, they will not be overwhelmed, at least I wish they wouldn't be. My blood was pumped, the fire igniting under my skin and inside my veins. I really should help them, after all, that creature was my enemy as much as theirs.

I closed my eyes entering my mindscape, the plain filled with swords and weapons. There were many things, halberds, spears, lances, swords of many variations. It was a world in perpetual dawn, in sunrise, a place filled with my hopes for the future, and a mean to gather that hope for the future I envisioned. It was my tomb, my final resting place that I had glanced within my future self's memories, I carried my death within me, it was my destiny. I also fell within a setting no different then what I have imagined. I met my match in a field skewered with blades, spears, and corpses of my enemies.

There were gears in the sky, rusted gears slowly turning. They worked and turned to produce my weapons, to forge my steel upon this hill made of swords. They were old, they were never new, they turned and turned, never stopping, grinding against each other making a familiar sound of steel against steel. This was my factory, my world, the source of my strength, and the source of my eventual demise. The perfect embodiment of my ideals, of what I hoped to become, it was my reality marble, my Unlimited Blade Works.

I reached for a certain sword, a blue blade with a beautiful gem encrusted in its hand guard and another in its hilt. There were several runes etched upon the blade itself, together they read something along the lines of "God grant me victory", but of course the original wielder of the blade was not a Christian, his god was something different, something more pagan by modern standards. I reached for it within my mind, putting its picture into a the metaphorical gun that was my spell. I saw everything that made this sword a sword. Its composition, its blueprint, and most importantly, its history. The history of the sword Caladbolg, the "Great Sword".

"Trace on," I muttered to myself finally opening my eyes. A black bow appeared in front of me right into my outstretched left hand. The picture of Caladbolg was still in my mind, its every aspect, I needed it for what I am about to do next. "Trace on: Alteration." Normally I could do this instantly, without uttering specific incantations, but this time was a bit different, I needed this sword to be a bit special, a bit stronger. A picture of a red lance flashed through my mind as I used the blueprints of that specific spear to alter the sword. "Trace on." my right hand pulled on my bowstring, there was a slight spark of light as my od was gathered for my magecraft. After the light subsided what was left in my hand was a brutal drill. Caladbolg II, but unlike its usual black drill this one was red. This is Caladbolg III, a mixture of Caldabolg II with Gae Dearg,the Crimson Rose of Exorcism. This should temporarily halt the Everlasting March and help the humans fighting that beast.

I pumped my od into the weapon in my hands. My magic caused the weapon to overload, to become unstable, to become fragile, to become broken. "My core is twisted into madness." I hollered finally letting go of the arrow allowing it to propelling forward. I was roughly two miles away from my target but my enemy was big, I had no doubt that I will hit.

My arrow sailed through the air cutting, drilling. It became even stronger for every meter it traveled. It continued as a red missile flying at close to supersonic speed. Then it impacted my enemy in detonated.

* * *

The fight was not going well for the PANDORAs, they were suffering greatly. Only seven remained from the original eighteen in the hit squad including Kazuha, Yu-Mi, Emily, and Elize. They were losing badly, and it wasn't getting any better. The two NOVAs were indomitable, they did not move, they did not have to. Their tentacles and feelers snaked around the plain launching its drilled point at its enemies, its particle beams tore everything its path apart. The two were not damaged, and they were covered by tens of soldiers that were just a bit weaker then PANDORAs. Physically they were more than likely superior, but they were like mannequins with less fight instincts so the PANDORAs won with skills against the enemies' brute force. But there were no victories, they faced casualties with no seeable improvement. The two NOVAs still stood there unhurt, and Kazuha Aoi was tiring, she did not know how much longer she can last.

Then there was a red missile flying straight at the NOVAs. At first Kazuha thought it would end up the same, not scratching the PANDORA's armor, but as it detonated she could tell there was a difference. 'What in the world is that?' The NOVA who got hit wailed and cried in what she assumed to be pain. The tentacles stopped hunting around, the spiked men suddenly stopped like puppets with their strings cut. But Kazuha was tired, she was on her knees with Nova Blood stuck into the ground supporting her weight. "Zaaammmm..." Her life flashed by her eyes as she saw the shining ray of death that speared toward her, then a movement and a figure stood in front of her. "Rho Aias."

It was perhaps the most beautiful thing she'd ever see in her life. The figure of a man with white spiked hair and black skin tight clothing. His back was turned to the exhausted PANDORA but she could see the tanned bronze color of his skin from the sleeveless shirt he wore, his well toned muscles not hidden. She could see a slight difference in color between his right and left hand but she ignored that in favor of greedily drinking this miracle sight in front of her. Aside from the man was the barrier separating the two from the killing laser from the NOVA. It was pink, a beautiful pink reminding her of sakura he had seen the previous winter. It even seemed like a flower with seven pedals pulsing with a beautiful light. It held against the beam that wrecked her team, he held against the monster that she could not defeat, it was truly a miracle.

Then he spoke, in a deep raspy voice that resonated throughout the entire frozen plane. There was tenderness in his voice as he watched the havoc, but at the same time there was an unmistakable steel in his coarse voice. He shouted towards the two NOVAs, the one previously struck had come back to its senses and its minions started moving once again. "Our fates are tied, monster," he said with derision. "When you returned to this plane of mankind I also had returned. "He brandished a golden sword, holding the beautifully ornate blade with both hands. His stance was lowered, the blade edge pointing backwards as he readied a two handed swing.

Kazuha Aoi noticed the perfection of his stance, no openings, no wasted movements, whoever he was he was well versed in the ways of a sword. She could only stand there awed as the alluring broadsword in his hand wafted off power, glowed with an aura of pure brilliance, like a sun, like the rising sun. He continued to scream at the NOVA. "You are the bane of mankind, foul beast, but I am the bane of your existence. I will not rest until your armor is shattered, I will not stop until your body is broken. I will not stop until you lay dead on the ground. I will hunt you monster, for today, I am your executioner."

Kazuha Aoi could only stand there amazed at the passion and feeling in his words. The feeling his speech installed within her was infections. Whoever he was he knew what he was doing, and he will not stop until his job is finished. In concentration Kazuha almost squealed in surprise as he broke his stance and started moving.

It started as a quick walk, then a light job, then he broke into a speed well above a human's limits. He ran straight towards the NOVA, ignoring the converted ex-huans that stood between himself and his nemesis. He weaved and ducked, what he didn't dodge he shrugged off with no apparent damage. Two-hundred meters, 150 meters, 100 meters, he was unstoppable, he was fast, he was invincible. 50 meters from the white colossus he faced more resistance, but a miracle happened. It seemed as if all attacks phased through him, Aoi could only stand stunned as he was engulfed in an aura similar to that of his sword. It was soothing, it was peaceful, Aoi felt tears well up in the frame of her eyes as she sighed in relief at the tranquility the golden light inspired.

In no time the strange swordsman stood face to face with the NOVA. He had arrived to face the monster, Kazuha feared for him, feared he would meet his demise, she wanted to shout at him bur found herself unable to speak due to what happened next.

The NOVA cranked its head to look at its enemy, and the blades man looked back with great defiance through eyes that promised retribution to those who wronged him. "You have gotten weak, wretched creature, gotten weak in your slumber. But I have not, for I am human. You once wright great havoc onto these lands, scorched our Earth, killed our people, but this ends today, for you will meet your end here." The smaller NOVA moved towards its bigger brethren. The tentacles started reacting as more than three dozen feelers with drills on its ends rushed towards him.

A everything approached the silver haired man he cried out, screamed, and released all the pend up anger he had in a mighty roar, then he swung.

"Ex-calibur..." It wasn't exceptionally loud but for some reason Kazuha could hear what he said two hundred meters away. He only uttered one word, but he said that word with great confidence; he was sure in his victory, and against all rationality Kazuha Aoi believed in him too.

The golden light dancing around his sword intensified. It spread from the blade to the hilt becoming a cross of light. Its radiance was unbelievable, the energy it emitted was incomparable. There was steel in his eyes, an unmistakable steel from the many trials he had gone through to forge himself. For some reason Aoi thought she heard the sound of shifting gears but she dismissed it as a hallucination from this unbelievable scene.

He swung his blade upwards in a crescent slash without haste. It was slow and deliberate, but it had its effect. The cross seemed to lengthen as he swung and extend as he completed his swing. The PANDORA had to shield her eyes with her hands as the brightness spiked to rival that of the sun, yes, a miniature sun. There was a flash of bright light and a wave of heat, then all was quiet and gone.

When Kazuha Aoi finally removed her hand from her eyes a small sigh of relief escaped her. The damage was extreme and there was no sight of the white haired man with the strange sword. What laid where he once stood nothing, the two NOVAs that once stood in his way was promptly annihilated. Kazuha's Nova Blood dropped out of her hand as her mind could not comprehend the destruction that person dealt. The scene was something without description, an image in her mind that she would remember for all eternity.

Tears if relief fell down her face as the sun began to rise from the edges of the Horizon.

* * *

A/N:

Someone was asking what route my story took place after. All I could say is all of them. Someone said EMIYA is better than Shirou, well that's technically untrue since they are the same person.

This story takes place after all the shit of the Holy Grail War happened since Archer is technically a culmination of everything Shirou went through in alternate realities. The EMIYA in the prologue is what will become Counter Guardian EMIYA, I modeled the Shirou with Heaven's Feel ending since the arm would give him memories of his past selves.

As for Fate/Zero characters I don't even know if that's possible. The timeframe is too different. I kind of forgot but F/SN took place sometimes in the early 2000, and Fate/Zero 10 years before that. This story present time takes place in 2056 or the 8th NOVA clash, I probably got the date wrong but yeah, something like 205X. Everyone in Fate/Zero is most likely dead or a very old man, no, a very, very old man.

This is going to be the only fighting in a few chapters since what I feel from Freezing is that if they're not fighting NOVAs (once every like 8 years) they are training or living their lives to the fullest.

I took liberty with the 8th NOVA clash seeing that I never really finished Freezing or Freezing Zero, any discrepancies, well, don't correct me cause this is how it'll go.

Someone's probably going to ask why EMIYA ohko'ed the NOVA when he died fighting it at first. He kind of mentioned it saying that the NOVA was in hibernation and it is pretty big and it'd take some time for it to get ready, and during his fight with the NOVA a long time ago it was much harder since the Everlasting March had many more soldiers then a fleet of Navy that was probably small since everything is like mechanized in the future, or I would suppose they are?

Anyhow, I tried pretty hard for this chapter, any grammar mistakes, well, too bad? I was in a rush. I would like a beta of anyone's interested since I can't do hard edit with my own works. PM me if your interested.

Anyways, Read and Review as always, review make me happy, its mostly been positive so far. And yes I did make this chapter much longer than prologue.

Read & Review

-Wiltheavatar-


	3. Forward Unto Dawn 3:

Chapter 3: The Life of an Ex-Hero

* * *

He grabbed the brown cylinder with red covering near the middle in front of him with upmost dexterity. With quick movements he quickly swiped it past a technologically advanced apparatus in front of him and was content to hear it beep. Then he reached out for the triangular object with a thin transparent membrane surrounding it, with the same agility he possessed earlier he again swiped the object in his hands past the metallic colored apparatus. Done with what he was doing he looked up to face a middle aged woman with long brown hair. Running his right hand through his spikey white hair he finally said to her, "740 yen please." The woman quickly reached into her bag for her purse and handed to him a thousand yen bill. "One thousand yen," he fed the bill into a complicated looking machine in front of him displaying the total, then there were sounds of metal brushing against metal as several coins fell down to a small bowl-shaped object at the base of the machine. He quickly grabbed the coins and handed it to the woman waiting in facing him, "Here you go, 260 yen change," as the woman walked away without a word he called after her retreating figure, "Please come again."

It had been a week or so since the eight NOVA clash, or at least that's what the televisions were calling it in news broadcasts. It had been a week since Emiya Shirou fought against his long-time enemy and emerged victorious, but now he had no idea what he was supposed to do. His rationale was simple, he needed to live on, and to live on means he needed money, and to get money he needed a job. This train of thoughts all lead to one conclusion: "I need a job." This ended with the white haired young man finding a job at a nearby convenience store which didn't seem to discriminate against his forged identification made by replacing a picture on an ID he found where he is living with his own. Unfortunately, Shirou was forced to live in the abandoned bay area near the battlefield of the clash due to the lack of funds.

It seemed like most people had abandoned their homes near the bay area after the eight NOVA clash, no one really wanted to return to where the NOVAs had landed to punish humanity, of course it didn't help that most of the structures in the area had been destroyed by NOVAs. It was maybe ten kilometers from the actual city major, he didn't mind the distance, it was a nice workout for him going to and from work on an undamaged bike he had found in near his living area. Today was the last day of living in the wreckage left behind by the NOVAs, he managed to get ask for an advance payment that Shirou will use to rent a cheap room in the suburban area of the city itself. He did seven-hour shifts for 900-yen per hour, five days a week. In total he would get 126,000 yen for the month and he got half of that from the manager of the convenient store he had been working at the previous month.

Shirou Emiya had used the last few days scouring the city for an apartment that wasn't overly expensive and wouldn't take up all the money he had. He found a nice place for 50,000 yen a month, a certain apartment complex named Izumo Inn. Shirou had been pleasantly surprised to meet the innkeeper, a young, purple haired woman who distinctly smelled of magic. Of course he kept his thoughts to himself during the time he made arrangements with the young and beautiful Miya Asama. She didn't seem dangerous and that was all Shirou needed to know, as long as she didn't try to kill him in his sleep she could have been a dead apostle and he would still have rented the room due to his lack of fund and her comparably cheap rent, beggars can't be choosers after all.

With these thoughts in mind he repeated the actions he had done earlier, with a fake smile on his face he served his next customer and the customer after that.

* * *

It was seven by the time he finished with his shift and he immediately set out towards Izumo Inn on a pink bike he had jacked from the wreckage of the NOVA clash. It was a pretty short ride, much less then the ten kilometers he had to bike to work every day from his previous "house." The trip will take approximately five minutes, a distance around two kilometers to the two-floor structure western. Izumo Inn had been a western home in style but still contained a courtyard with Japanese-styled veranda and raised platform. It was a nice, clean place for its price, and the veranda reminded Shirou of the time his father Kiritsugu had been alive. The veranda also reminded him of his own house, his house being a single floored Japanese home. Unfortunately, his home laid in ruins underwater where he had fought the NOVA no more than two weeks ago.

The fact that Fuyuki City sunk troubled him. He didn't have much there after his time as a "hero", but it held some sentimental value. He still had some fond memories of the city itself, even the Grail War had been something pleasant to think about, a sort of 'coming to age' ceremony that taught him the true meaning of being a man. There was nothing for him to return to after his time, his friends all died during his last conflict, the society he ended up fighting for also laid in ruins. The mage association had tried to respond to the threat of this mysterious "NOVA" by first sending the Enforcers, the Executors were sent by the Vatican, freelancers were contracted to war, then the magi from the association had gone in themselves.

Of course the non-battle oriented magi had pretty much been annihilated. Even the strongest enforcers and executors didn't last very long. The alien had been strong, it froze the movements of those around it, the humans were taken by surprise. Researchers who had not been research oriented had no chance against the ghoul-like minions the soldiers created from corpses of the fallen. The creature's battlions were strong, as strong as some dead apostles, and the suicidal way of fighting at close range ripped past the magi's range techniques with apparent ease.

The non-magical humans were next to useless, their advanced weaponry didn't do anything to the NOVA; they're strongest bullets merely bounced from the NOVA's shell, their smart bombs speared out of the sky by the creature's feelers. Non-magical soldiers died and were strengthened and reanimated, all hope had been lost. That is until Shirou had arrived. He fought valiantly for as long as he could, for days he trudged the battlefield using Rule Breaker and Gae Dearg to halt the advancing arm of reanimated corpses. He summoned his weapons from his armory and led the few capable of fighting back onto the battlefield. There he had met Aoko Aozaki, or Aoko "Blue" Aozaki. She had been one of the few magi that stood against the NOVA without major difficulties, however, the freezing field seemed to slow down the movement of prana within the area severely limiting her abilities when she fought.

In fact, most magi were limited in the regards of mana movement, their spells' cast time became longer and in some cases spells failed to even realize. The alien was strong and, from what Shirou had found out at the time, magical. They were beings of magic, they countered magic, truly the bane of mankind.

He ran his dark toned hand across his hair as he thought about the last moments of the battle. His legs paddled furiously as he tried to forget the bloodshed, the pain, the death he had faced. It had been cruel, it had been devastating, but he had prevailed just enough to attain victory. It only took him another minute or so of furious paddling before he finally arrived at his future living place.

As he arrived his heart was filled with some sort of nostalgia seeing Izumo Inn. It wasn't structurally similar to his old home in Fuyuki, but the feeling he got was similar, the cohabitation similar to high he lived his own life in high school. He liked waking up and seeing others, he liked seeing Sakura come over to help with chores nearly every morning. Life had been hard for him after the Holy Grail Wars, without Sakura there he felt lost. He immersed himself within perpetual warfare and Apostle hunts and took his mind off his lost through bloodshed. Shirou Emiya had turned to be a very different man then he once thought himself as, circumstances pushed him to become something different from what he vowed to be.

At the gate of Izumo Inn Shirou could see a young woman in her twenties standing there with her purple hair hanging loose like how Rider had left it. She was Miya Asama, the magical innkeeper of Izumo Inn, magical not being a pun. Her facial features were warm and she wore a kind smile on her face, she wasn't exactly tall and her shorter frame only emphasized her considerable bust. Despite having her eyes closed at the moment Shirou remembered her red eyes, those orbs seemed to pierce into his soul, evaluating him, seeing if he was worthy of her protection. Shirou knew she was special, not just her inhuman beauty, but her unnatural understanding of this world told the former freelancer that Miya Asama was not someone he would want to mess with.

The purple haired woman noticed Shirou as he approached her with his bike in both hands, he had a heavy backpack and a duffle bag strapped onto the backseat of his bike. These were all things he had looted from his living area the last few weeks, it reminded him of war when he needed to loot abandoned homes to keep himself living with provisions. Truth to be told he didn't have much even after his week or so of pillaging, he did find some money which he saved for emergences, he did get some clothes, but not much else he could or knew how to use. There were instances when he did find what would probably have been cellphones used in this time frame, but compared to the cellphones in his time he wasn't sure if he could get it working or if it was even worth the trouble learning. He compromised by picking one up and when his boss wanted his phone he just gave his baby blue cell to his manager so the store manager could input the information Shirou needed onto his phone.

Her eyes opened from their previous slits as she motioned to greet the newest arrival and tenant of her inn. "Ara ara, Emiya-san is that you? I was expecting you a bit earlier but have no worries," she moved up to Shirou to give him a hand with his luggage which he, as a man, subtly refused by lightly brushing her soft hand off his luggage and smiling, "Your room is all ready for you to move in," noticing his refusal of her help she didn't press on. Instead she grabbed his free arm and lightly tugged him towards the complex. "Hurry Emiya-san, your just in time for dinner, if you don't hurry then dinner will be cold."

Shirou smiled at his eager innkeeper momentarily forgetting her being a magical creature. She acted so much like a normal human to a point that it scared him. He allowed him to be lightly pulled away but before that he gave her a deep bow, "Asama-san, please forgive my tardiness, but I was held up at work. Thank you for having me."

She returned his bow with a dip of her own head to match the angle of his inclination, "Nonsense, there's nothing to forgive, don't be a stranger Emiya-san, Izumo Inn's going to be your home until you move out." Emiya blushed inside despite having a steely expression, his new landlady was beautiful, despite his years of experience both with women and also in hiding his emotions he still found himself captivated by the woman in front of him.

Following his landlady into the complex he could do nothing but feel slightly content at Miya's enthusiasm, even during his travels as a freelancer Shirou never felt cared for, all he saw was blood, a lot, a lot of blood.

* * *

"Kazuha, what'cha doing?" Kazuha Aoi walked with a sort of lifelessness down the carpeted hall of West Genetics. Despite her lack of energy her posture still radiated elegance as she strode forward in her blue dress-like uniform with high heels. Even though she did not pay much attention to her looks this morning, like every morning for the past week or so, her hair remains un-split and flowing behind her with each step she took forward. Her auburn, yellowish eyes were tired from lack of sleep, and a light dark ring around her orbs only further evidenced her lack of rest these past few days. She had been kept up thinking about a certain swordsman, and of course the failure of a mission she had been on, only six out of eighteen survived the eight NOVA clash.

She continued to move forward with her long dark hair gliding behind her, it seemed as if she didn't hear her brunette friend Yu-Mi Kim. The brunette gave a cute frown before she swirled her athletic figure until she faced her Japanese friend causing them to collide into each other at point blank.

"Itai…" Kazuha cried indignantly smashing headfirst into something that appeared in front of her out of nowhere. "What the." Upon closer inspection at what she had hit, "Yu-Mi. What the heck?" Her tone was higher pitched than normal both out of embarrassment at bumping into her friend but also slightly frustrated someone cut her thoughts off.

The short haired PANDORA with auburn hair gave a slight frown before scolding one of her best friends, "Kazuha Aoi, I should be asking you what the heck are you doing." Kazuha backed off at her friend's sudden anger. "This past week you've been sulking, stop, Kazuha, it's not your fault." Yu-Mi had always been headstrong as a PANDORA taking the role of vanguard if they were characterized in roles, she was brash and straightforward, but at the same time compassionate, very compassionate about those she cared for.

Kazuha was left speechless at her friend's sudden change in mood, from an angry and provocative mood into a caring atmosphere. Kazuha didn't really understand what her friend was saying, so she tilted her head right and stared at Yu-Mi with her brown eyes utterly confused, "What'you talking about Yu-Mi?"

Yu-Mi's facial expression softened from her intial scowl into a gentle tenderness that is rarely seen on her face. Then she put her hands on Kazuha's shoulders, then pulled her into her well-matured breasts. "Kazuha, it's okay, let it out, it must hurt doesn't it, the ones we lost during the clash." She paused, slowly rubbing Kazuha's back in a soothing manner. "Don't feel down, we did what we had to, they did not die in va…"

She was quickly pushed off by the blushing Japanese PANDORA. "What the , Yu-Mi, no." Despite Yu-Mi's attempt to re-engulf Kazuha in an embrace the shorter girl held her off with outstretched hands, "No Yu-Mi, it's not that." The Korean froze in her attempts to hug Kazuha. "No, it's not the girls that I'm thinking about, I know they died knowing their sacrifice and that they did not die in vain, I was thinking of 'Codename Arthur'."

Feeling rather embarrassed at her own outburst Yu-Mi immediately recognized the term 'Codename Arthur.' After all, they all heard about it in debriefing. From what Kazuha had described and what the detection instruments set around the battlefield had said, this man appeared out of nowhere, cut the NOVAs down, then disappeared. There were glimpses of his silhouette captured by the cameras, he was shown to be a tall man with tanned skin and whitish silver hair. Reports on who he was were sketchy at best. From what Kazuha had reported he wielded a sword named "Excalibur", hence his name as 'Codename Arthur'.

"Codename Arthur," this unfamiliar word rolled out of the brown haired PANDORA. Everyone knew the story of Arthur and his knights, the Knights of the Round Table, Excalibur. But for someone to claim they had 'Excalibur' must have been a counterfeit, after all, according to the legends, Excalibur was returned to the Lady of the Lake. "Arthur, Arthur." She muttered to herself finding this name strangely unfamiliar to her tongue, "Why think of him, Kazuha?"

By now they had stopped walking and Kazuha had leaned unto the walls for support well she stood. "I dunno, maybe because he saved my life?" She nodded to herself, "Yes, it must be because he let me see dear Kazuya again, heeheee, he's such a nice person, but of course, Kazuya was really good too…gueguegue…" Yu-Mi shuddered a bit at Kazuha's fixation on her brother Kazuya, she felt that it was a bit, what'ducallit? Different? Borderline illegal? But as a smart PANDORA Yu-Mi kept her thoughts to herself when her thoughts are a bout a person who could defeat her without any trouble in actual combat.

"Yeah, I guess that does warrant your attention, but still, it's been a week."

"A week? It's been that long? Well, then it's been a week since the mystery started, and I intend to solve it."

"Mystery? Solve? What'you talking about Kazuha?"

She got off the wall and swirled to me Yu-Mi in the eyes, "We're gonna find him of course?"

Yu-Mi Kim could only sigh at her friend's antics, being friends with Kazuha Aoi was surely troublesome.

* * *

I shuddered a bit before I continued to unpack my luggage, or lack of luggage for that matter. The room Miya had taken me to was a small rectangular room with a closet and few shelves that I could put my things. All-in-all it was more empty than my previous abode, probably due to the lack of a bed. Of course this wasn't really a problem, I was used to spending my nights in sleeping bags with no roof over my head, anything better than that was good in my mind. Dinner had been uneventful, I met the other two tenants of the house, a certain Ms. Hoover and a certain Takebayashi-san.

Ms. Hoover was the sister of a PANDORA in West Genetics. She moved to Japan from England along with her sister who attends West Genetics, the military boarding school training PANDORAs. From what I learned PANDORAs are the fighters against NOVAs, and Chevalier is a sort of international military organization dedicated to fight NOVAs. In Audrey Hoover's case her sister Emily Hoover was funded by Chevalier after being diagnosed with the potential to become a PANDORA. Part of the deal was that Audrey will be moved into Tokyo. From what I understand the government of Japan changed the map a bit after the first Clash, Tokyo now incorporates the whole region, including the former Fuyuki City.

Audrey Hoover is what I would describe as a serious and withdrawn girl. On the surface she looked bold, an eye-catcher, a beauty. Her red hair reached down her back, Audrey would wear her hair down without constraints very much like how Miya wore her's. She had a very sharp complexion, along with her piercing blue eyes made her intimidating when she wanted to be. Her height also added to her intimidating figure, despite not being tall compared to me she stood at an above average 170 centimeter, the last time I saw her when I visited the inn she had been in high heels, and with the added height she was extremely imposing.

Despite being quite daunting she is actually very reserved and shy around others. She tends to avoid the other inhabitants of Izumo Inn unless it's mealtimes, sometimes she still misses her meals in favor of eating out presumably with her friends. She almost never talks and even less talks about herself, I only learned what I learned from Miya who added information in the questions she asked. Audrey hadn't really talked to me at all during the whole meal, she did reply to some of Miya's questions though, but never me.

The other male inhabitant of Izumo house was a certain Taro Takebayashi. There isn't much I can say about him, he was nice and talkative, a contrast with the red hair tenant. He wasn't really tall or short, having a height of something along the lines of 165 centimeters if my guess is correct. He had black hair which drooped around his face since it didn't look like it was cut a lot. He moved here to Tokyo in order to study at the local university Tokyo University, the most prestigious in Japan. From what I have learned from our light conversation he moved here from Osaka and is studying something like "Particle Physics" or something along the lines of that, he lost me at the first few sentences, I was never good at studying.

Despite the fact that he was a bit overzealous with his studies, he was definitely nice. He's been living at Izumo Inn for over a year now, and told me a lot about the surrounding area. There is something about him that made him so friendly, it wasn't the long face he has, the small eyes, or his obviously athletic demeanor, he just felt nostalgic, as if I had known him before. After time of thought I guess it was just the atmosphere he gave off, it made me feel as if I was in school again and he was my best mate or the sorts. Then again he is a student I guess.

My hands reached into my duffel bag to take out one of the few things that is not an article of clothing. It felt rough around the edges, and cold, yes, it was cold to my touch. When I took it out it reflected the light from the lamp overhead. Yes, a small crystal, or what looked like a crystallization of something. I managed to swipe it from a dead ex-human, a crystallization of what seemed like prana, on the humans it seemed to be something akin to parasites.

I was never a great magus, but from what I observed both times, the Everlasting March seems to be some sort of possession of the body by the main body, or the NOVA. From what I observed this time around it seemed to convert every nerve of the corpse into magic circuit, then overload them with mana to control the body as one would through hypnosis. It was strange, you can't hypnotize a dead body, but the NOVA managed through these crystals akin to lightning rods to direct its magic. It also explained how they became so strong and fast, the abnormal amount of magic circuits reinforced the body to a point above what the body was originally capable of.

Another strange phenomenon was that these crystals didn't just disappear after I detached it from the host body. It remained there, inactive, and still filled with what I presumed to be mana from the NOVA main body. What I can conclude is that these parasites are not in fact implanted onto the person, but an effect of the spell made from the NOVA. These are probably a side effect of a natural phenomenon, one that I have never seen before.

Putting my hijacked crystal on the ground I reached into my bag again to retrieve my phone. It was funny I've never really owned a cell phone before this and I didn't even pay for this phone. I found this flashy piece of electronic equipment on the ground in the wreckage, and it seemed like I needed one. From what I understand before cell phones have this thing called "plan" I need to obtain a cellphone plan in case the original owner of this phone cancels his number or stops his payment after dying. Another thing to add to my already dwindling budget I guess.

* * *

It was another day at work as I slowly grabbed another thing to swipe across the scanning machine. Two weeks and I still can't get used to this peace, and I hope I don't really. I've been keeping up with my workout running around the community Izumo Inn resided in without the aid of reinforcement but it wasn't enough. However, it definitely seemed weird to the other inhabitants, sometimes Miya would look at me with these cautious eyes when I returned, maybe I'm just being overly paranoid.

"Welcome." I said as a customer entered the Lawson I was working at. This was probably the thirtieth time I said 'welcome' today, but it's okay, it's nearly the end of the lunch rush and not that many people come during the afternoon anyways.

This job was boring, I've done part time jobs before but they were mostly physical in nature, like fixing some broken appliances or handling some heavy objects. Never have I had to do a job that required me to interact with others, I've never been good at 'interacting' preferring to keep to myself but hey, we learn something new everyday.

The thing about the NOVAs are still running on the news, it kept saying things like 'Two NOVA attacking, is the world going to end?" Things like that, how ridiculous. Humans should learn that our race is actually extremely resilient, we keep fighting, no matter what the obstacle is we will learn to break through our limits. At least that is what I felt about the human race, well another part of me hates our race since we always find a way to fuck up and require the Counter Guardians to step in. I remembered my times as a Counter Guardian, the slaughter my job required me to do was a bloody mess, nothing more, nothing less.

"Please come again." I said halfheartedly to another customer I had just served. Working in a convenience store really wasn't exciting; it was simply repetitive work.

Finally there was no one here, from what my experience tells me there won't be anyone here for a while, "Yo Emiya-san, come help with the back since the store is empty." A person called at me in the distance. And my thoughts of some free time were destroyed. The person was calling for me was Yamato-san, a young man working as the manager of this branch of Lawson. He was sunny, that was the word I would choose for him.

It was probably his spikey brown hair, or maybe it was the necklace? No, it must be the colored glasses he wore that was a sunglasses and at the same time wasn't a sunglasses; it blurs the line between the middle. I guess I could describe him as a bit scruffy, standing tall, somewhat taller than myself and having a tattoo on his arm. How he became the manager he I will never know but he did. Despite looking like some delinquent he was surprisingly nice, he showed me the ropes of what to do around here and had been very understanding about my situation dealing with money.

"Coming," I called after him as I made way to the back of the shop in order to help him stock up on the shelves, why, in fifty years no one developed something to automatically stock the shelves I will never know.

* * *

"You guys heading out?" Elize Schimtz asked the pair in front of her, a brunette and a girl with raven hair walking side by side.

The duo both turned around at the sudden interruption, recognizing the Elize Yu-Mi answered, "Yeah, Kazuya thought it'd be nice to go to the city a bit, she's been holed up here after all."

"Oh, the city, why not go home to her brother?" Elize asked a bit surprised, normally when Kazuha wanted to go out it was always home to visit her brother.

Kazuha gave a slight frown at Elize's question, "I went home the moment the clash ended, and we have a pretty important event tomorrow that I can't afford to miss, you know that Elize."

The green haired PANDORA with her hair tied in a pony tail nodded at her Japanese friend's words, "Yeah, the inner school tournament is indeed tomorrow, I guess you're right. But Yu-Mi, didn't you have somewhere to go today?"

The Korean PANDORA looked genuinely surprised before face palming. "Ah crap, sorry Kazuha, I need to go to the checkup today, I can't miss it, I already cut it last time."

Her friend glared at her, then looked at Elize, "With me?"

The German PANDORA only shook her head, "Can't I have the time right after Yu-Mi, that's why I know she had somewhere to be."

Kazuha glared at both her friends, "Tratior. Hmpff," and without saying anything twirled and kept going ignoring her two friends.

Elize looked at her shorter friend, "Where's she going anyways?"

Yu-Mi looked back at Elize, "Officially she's out to shop around and take her mind off the clash."

"And unofficially?"

"She's looking for Arthur."

"Only her, only her." The two gave a knowing sigh at their friend's antics, then again, maybe she'll get lucky today.

* * *

It was kind of sunny in the afternoon as the Kazuha Aoi exited the gates of West Genetics and entered the bus heading towards Tokyo major. West Genetics is located something like twenty kilometers from Tokyo major for secrecy, but due to the fact that PANDORAs are encouraged to go to the city to mingle with the normal people a schedule of buses exit and return to the campus every day. Classes do not follow a rigid schedule so the buses run pretty much every hour.

It was roughly twenty minutes before Kazuha Aoi exited the bus in her casual clothes as opposed to her blue dress with heeled loafers. She changed to a blue t-shirt and denim shorts with high-heeled sandals to oppose the summer sun. She headed to the commercial district where the shops are located and proceeded to spend the day as she pleased.

Even an elite PANDORA like herself often enjoyed the relief normal activities inspires. Contrary to popular beliefs PANDORAs did not spend all their time training, in fact, the amount of time really depends on the PANDORA themselves, an elite like Kazuha may spend something like an hour sparring and going through simulations, but rarely more than two. She enjoyed just going around the city a times, of course if Kazuya was here she'd be even more happy, but sometimes you just can't complain that much about life.

She clapped her face a few times bringing her attention back to herself, 'No Kazuha, your purpose today is not to shop.'

'But they look so pweettyyy.' Another part of herself said.

'No, we're here for one reason and one reason.'

'So pweettyyyy…'

'We're here to find Arthur, not spend our time looking in stores, but then again, maybe he's shopping as well?'

'So pweettyyy…'

Having an inner conflict with oneself definitely didn't seem easy.

* * *

Business was definitely going slow, there hadn't been a customer in the past thirty minutes. Yamato-san is staring as his cellphone, I wonder what he's looking at, is he checking out people's numbers or something? Ah, he's laughing again, why is he smiling at a bunch of numbers anyways, modern people, so strange. As expected the afternoons passed by slowly, there was practically no business and all we did as clerks is sit on a stool behind the counters and find ways to waste our time. One would expect a convenient store placed in the shopping district would have a lot of business the whole day, but I guess that is wrong.

Sitting for hours I've been looking for a course of action, I got a phone plan a few days back, the clerk said something strange, something about internet on their phones? I've never been good with computers and this illustrious 'internet', I had used it a few times as a student for researching but really, my work requires me to use 'synchronized magic crystals' to communicate with other magi rather than use cellphones and the internet. So like all other magi I fell out of practice in terms of technology. The few people I've met on my travels like one of my teachers Waver Velvet told me that my father Kiritsugu was good with technology, I guess I just didn't have the same knowledge he had.

My mind drifted back to the NOVA I fought. I remembered us humans calling it the "World Eater", a monster that will devour the world. The one I fought was definitely the same, albeit a bit weaker, it was strange, the one that got resurrected was a lot weaker, but it was the same, I was sure of it. Or maybe it was that the first attack I used on the NOVA did more damage than I imagined, maybe Gae Dearg's effect affected the passive shields, maybe, but I think it might be something a lot more ominous than that.

During my last moments fighting the creature I finished the fight with Excalibur, it was so bright but the fact that nothing was left after my attack made it strange. What I think is that they were transported back to where they came from, I highly doubt that even Excalibur could wreck two of them at once, maybe the smaller one, but the big one, my rival, not a chance. It took me the use of my reality marble, thirteen fully activated noble phantasms, six broken phantasms, and a hell loud of magi shooting spells at it to defeat it, it just didn't seem logical. It didn't matter though, what does matter is that when it comes back, presumably eight years later, I will be ready and I will put it down for good.

My thoughts were suddenly cut off by the smell of magic saturating the air. Steel, yes, it was the smell of steel, or in this case I think it's the PANDORAs. All PANDORAs smelled like untarnished steel. It was approaching, and fast, approaching me? Did it know who I was, did it know what I am? I needed to act fast, so I suddenly stood up surprising my manager who almost fell back on his stool at my sudden movement. I made for the back door but I wasn't fast enough.

The automated reply of the automatic doors said, "Welcome to Lawson, we wish you have a good day."

But another voice shouted at me, a voice definitely feminine but with a hint of anger, "You, you...its you…"

I turned around to see a girl with long black hair and auburn eyes stalking towards me. She wore a t-shirt that seemed to be a bit small for her accentuating her breasts and tight enough to enunciate her curvy hips. She wore denim shorts that and white heeled sandals. Her hair swished behind her beautiful face as she stalked towards me, I could tell she was angry, but why I did not know.

"You, its you, Codename Arthur." She spoke to me once she reached the counter that I tried to run from, I couldn't since I was captivated by her charm and the strangeness of her behavior. A traced sword was already loaded into the gun within my mind but I didn't project it into reality since I very much doubt she's going to try to kill me right now. My last thoughts before facing the girl head on was 'Arthur? How very ironic.'

I uttered the words before facing her wrath, "Blasted E-rank luck."

* * *

A/N:

It's kind of short but live with it. I didn't really proofread it so yeah, it's gonna have some major grammar and typing errors, I'll edit it a few days after.

I have a major headache right now so I don't even know what to write for A/N. I intended to answer some questions from the reviews and PMs I received but I'll do that tomorrow when I don't have a headache. I can barely think and type right now.

Anyhow chapter 3 is up, it's fun and light, no fighting, like an interlude really. I had fun putting the slight Sekirei addition into the story, I've been meaning to write a F/SN Sekirei crossover before this but I don't have the time after I started FuD.

Major thanks to Piterio who talked with me well I was working the chapter itself, our conversations were pretty irrelevant with the current chapter but more of striking a backstory for Shirou Emiya but it was fun anyhow.

Another thanks to reven228 for a bit of an idea on the Excalibur-Arthur thingy

Thanks to all who reviewed, it was a lot more than I expected, and I appreciate it. I reply to most of my reviews, or all of it barring the one word or sentence congratulations that I have no idea how to reply to. This dude wrote like Spanish, it was really cool but I can't speak Spanish, luckily google translate took care of that. I do speak Chinese if anyone's interested.

I'll edit the A/N some other day, so yeah, check it up in a few days if you want a few questions answered.

Read & Review, I appreciate everyone's input

-Wiltheavatar

11/18/2013

Edit time:

I'll answer a few questions to the best of my abilities

I think I managed to reply to most of the reviews who well had something to review to

A few people mentioned if Sekirei will be in the story, the answer is no, I never watched or read sekirei, I've gone on the wiki to reference GB's In Flight but that's it. However, Miya will be some sort of counselor to Shirou sometimes since he kind of has PTSD even if he doesn't really show it yet. Anyone who lived through combat that is not a psychopath will have PTSD, or at least most of them. EVen the best trained soldiers suffer from some form of PTSD.

Someone mentioned my lack of knowledge on F/SN: Very true, I was 6th grade when I played the VN, not the best age since I was immature and innocent, I skipped through most of HF since it was like 1/3rd sex. I look through the wikis, and I try to make it as good as possible but there are going to be major mistakes from what I interpreted.

Rite, about the enforcers, executors, etc. They are strong, I know they are, make no mistake. But the first NOVA was well I put it at somewhere near 200 meters, that's a 50+ stories building. And the freezing field in FuD messes up with prana, handicapping magi. Even sorcerers will find it hard to fight a big monster without their full magical capabilities. IN my opinion enforcers, executors, etc are all anti-unit and anti like humanoid units like dead apostles (so far all the dead apostles I know are human sized or a bit bigger, none that is 50 stories tall). I think the wiki mentioned something about phantasmal beasts, like dragons and such, compare NOVA with dragon, but a bit bigger, scratch that, a lot bigger, with magic resistance and a fucked up boundary field. And it summons minions as strong as supernatural beings, not going to be easy. R-classes have this shield as well, just putting it out there.

Is shirou going to get paired? FOr now? no, he's a bit unstable if you get what I mean.

When is the next update? I dunno, somewhere among the next two weeks, college apps is hard, I'm already procrastinating.

I'll edit the actual story in a few days, I think.

Rite, I need to answer from the last chapter:

A lot of people asked about SHirou's personality about the speech. Some liked it(1) some hated it (everyone else). LoL, think of it as a spur of the moment, a moment of emotional outrage. If you just woke up and someones fucking with your house I'm sure you'd be angry and do things you normally won't do.

I think this is most of it, if there are questions, I'll reply PM, no problem

Now I'm just being lazy, but if someone wants to edit parts of my story for grammar errors, feel free, just PM me and I'll upload it myself, just copy and paste, your freedom

Haha, R&R

-Wiltheavatar

For anyone who cares Taro Takebayashi is my best friend in second to third grade, I don't talk to him anymore but its a tribute, I actually kind of modeled the char after his fb profile picture


	4. Forward Unto Dawn 4

Forward Unto Dawn

* * *

Chapter 4: Guide on How to Live with E-rank Luck

* * *

She stormed towards me with obvious fury in her face. I had never talked to her so I had never wronged her, therefore I did no understand what her fixation with me is. Now that you mentioned it maybe I have seen her before, long black hair, auburn eyes, buxom figure, isn't this like the girl I saved from the NOVA the other day? I'm almost sure, but it was pretty dark that night so I can't be sure all the same. She stood face to face with me, our faces only inches from each other, by now she had one and holding up front of my collar, I made an offhand note of how strong she is despite her womanly looks, how scary.

I didn't even try to resist her, there was no point, I'd never get away from this scot free if I resisted, my best bet would be just to ignore her, if she is ignored she might leave without complicating things a even further. I could see Yamato laughing into his palm trying his best not to be open with his ridicule at my position, however, he was failing miserably. At this range I could smell her perfume, a scent of lavender, a nice scent really, I vaguely remembered a few women that wore the same scent, or similar ones of course, but I could tell if I made that comment here this girl would skewer me alive. Instead I chose to follow through with my original idea, to simply ignore this and follow through with my training. "Welcome to Lawson Convenience Store." I stopped without finishing my trained automated reply since she looked like she was seriously contemplating murder.

"Do you want to try our new Super Fried Crispy Chicken? It is on a discount for two for 240-yen, the best deal for two Super Fried Crispy Chicken." This was getting uncomfortable.

To my relief she finally let me go, allowing me to slide back onto the ground. I didn't know when, but apparently during our confrontation she managed to heft me into the air with only her slender arms, not even two arms, just one. Yamato just looked at me snickering at my misfortune. "I repeat, who are you, Arthur?"

I just ignored her since I really have no reason to talk to her, she wasn't even a customer. I sat back down on my stool waiting for a proper customer, I tried to tune her out, but I could hear the girl asking general questions that I suppose would count as "unclassified" since there was another civilian here other than myself. Yamato looked at me with slight pity in his face, it almost seemed genuine, that was until he started having a coughing fit from holding in his laughter.

Whispering to me to avoid the girl from hearing him he asked, "Yo, who's that Emiya, your ex?"

I looked at him indignantly with a slight frown, "Not a chance Yamato-san, I've only met her one other time outside today and I don't even know her."

"Oh? Such the lady's man, was she any good?"

I spluttered almost spitting out the water I had in my mouth, "No, not that Yamato-san, I just met her by chance a few weeks ago, frankly I almost forgot about her." This was a lie, although I didn't really remember the girl from appearance, I remembered her sword, Nova Blood was it? It was a beautiful peace of work and it had taught me a lot about a PANDORAs' weapon.

His mouth hooked up into a grin, "Just joshin' with ya Emiya, 'course I know a virgin like ya wouldn't have any chance with a hottie like that." Sometimes he was nice, other times I felt like punching him. This was Sanda Yamato, a truly infuriating person.

"I'm not a virgin thank you very much."

"Oh really? Could've fooled me. Heehee…" He was an incessant teaser at times, and when he had ammunition like this the best choice of action would be to stop talking to him.

"Go grin at your cellphone, you idiot." He laughed at my response and brushed off my insult like I knew he would.

However, the stranger in the distance didn't like how we were talking without her, she looked at us two, "What are you guys talking about?" We both ignored her in favor of doing whatever we were doing before her interruption, Yamato looking at his phone well I just continued doing like, nothing.

"You guys are so rude, is this how you treat a customer here? I'm going to go file in a complaint."

Me and Yamato gave each other a knowing look, then he turned to face her, "Miss." She waited for her to give her name.

"Aoi, Kazuha Aoi."

Yamato nodded, "Aoi-san, you are currently disturbing our business, your continuous speaking has been disturbing the others currently within the shop, and seeing that you are not here to buy anything, we would have to ask you to keep your voice down to a manageable level or we would need to ask you to leave." There was no smugness in Yamato's warning, this was just another one of those 'situational' responses from our handbook, well it is slightly altered but we had the liberties to change it so we don't have to memorize the whole thing.

She blushed a bit from embarrassment, her sudden shyness brought emphasis to her beauty. I didn't notice it at first since she was angry the whole time but this woman in front of us was the true definition of beauty. She had long black hair that reached down her back almost to her hips. Her mane of soft, black hair hugged her waist further accenting how curvaceous her body was. She wore a tight, blue t-shirt that definitely didn't downplay her figure, her denim shorts seemed to tease me with her long slender legs. And yes those legs were long and very slender, as well as milky white, it wasn't something I would expect from a warrior but I guess in this time frame there are ways to hide your scars so even warriors can be beautiful.

Despite his sudden seriousness Yamato suddenly smirked, "Well, Kazuha-chan, if you wait a bit maybe lover-kun will be on break? Just saying, ya'know?"

I shook my head furiously at him, it was true, my break was due to start in maybe twenty minutes? I didn't really want to deal with this PANDORA though.

She looked at me with her eyes, they really reflect the sunlight coming in from the large glass panels of the store, truth to be told it was really pretty. "Is that so?" Her tone was almost cold, kind of a mix between doubtful and barely controlled anger, how very interesting.

"Ya, ya'know, we do like these one-hour shifts, ya'know, lover-kun here gets a break to snack in like, ten-minutes, ya'know, since ya're so interested I'll let'im off right now, so yeah, Emiya, why don't'cha go take a break right now, just be back in like, ten minutes." I shook my head at him, begging him not to release me to the wolves, he looked at me and gave a devious smile, "What'cha waiting for Emiya, didn't cha motha tell ya not'a keep a lady waitin'?"

I gave him a sour look, then looked at Kazuha Aoi, she seemed to be demanding something from me, for some reason I feel small. I muttered in a low voice, "I didn't have a mother." If anyone of them heard me they didn't give a response.

I gave him one last pleading move but he pointed at Kazuha, I sighed and moved forward, it's okay, I can just keep silent, I have the right to remain silent, right?

* * *

It's been ten minutes since I got dragged out by a certain Kazuha Aoi. So far she's been talking, and I've been counting the cars that passed by the alleyway we were in. I was sitting down on a small bench next to the back door of the store I worked in and she was standing opposite to me talking to me. To tell the truth I wasn't really listening to her, oh, another of those cool looking sports car passed, how very interesting.

"Are you listening to me, Emiya-san?" Her voice was somewhat dangerous, it wasn't like she would cut me here, she's just frustrated that I haven't been looking at her for the last ten minutes. Truth to be told looking at her is kind of dangerous, I am a hot-blooded youth, well, if twenty-three is youthful, and she is a very enticing sixteen year old, or at least I will suppose she is somewhere around that age. Our age difference makes me seem like a pedophile, something I definitely am not, I am a very normal person in my own opinion, although I'm sure some people would disagree.

I turned to look at her, first thing to catch my view was her bountiful chest, and of course, as a respectful male I quickly averted my gaze and tried to look into her eyes. It was kind of hard, I was sitting, and she was standing, her eyes seemed to just pierce me with the height difference, those yellow-ish eyes were really unnerving, I wonder if anyone said that about my gray orbs. "Yeah, totally. I was listening, very intently." Her eyes were pretty angry, I think it'd be in my best interest to say what she wanted to hear.

"Oh really, Emiya-san." She stretched the honorifics a bit, from what I experienced with the female race, when someone stretches your name or honorifics it's generally a bad thing.

I nodded my head very quickly, "Yes, really really."

"As I was saying, Emiya-san, I want to know more about your abilities to fight NOVAs, where you learned them, and the source of your strength."

Yes, this was exactly what made me ignore her the whole time, she just didn't get the picture, "Yeah, I'm totally gonna tell you."

She nodded at me, "Then please."

Did she really not get my sarcasm? She is really a sheltered ojou-sama. "Yeah, totally," I took out my cellphone. One thing I do know about my cellphone is that it tells me the time, like a clock, or watch for that matter, "Oh my, look at the time. I must get back to work, sorry but I just don't have time, maybe another time, try never." I tried to fake sincerity into my tone but found it hard since I was so tired of her never ending questions. I pride myself to be a very nice person most of the time, but then again I have been described as cynical and distorted, it's all a matter of perspectives of course. With a quick wave I ran to the back door which had an 'employees only' sign and quickly got in, closed the door, and tried to put the whole incident behind me.

As I back into the main area of the store, I could see Yamato waiting for me. The store was still as empty as ever, so he was just looking as his cellphone like he always does. "Yo Emiya, how's ya girl?"

I glared at him, "Nothing much."

"Oh really, was she any good?"

"Depends what you are talking about, if you mean ranting, then yes she was very good at fast paced talking."

"LOL Emiya, I wasn't talk'in 'bout, I'mean like, is she good at that other stuff."

"You do realize you're like thirty right?"

He laughed at my comment, "It's never too late, it's never too late…heehaw…" I just sighed at his antics. Until Kazuha Aoi walked back in from the main door, then I just sighed at the promise for a long afternoon.

* * *

It was getting late and Kazuha wanted to be back in West Genetics in time for dinner at 6:30. She glared once more back at that infuriating Emiya Shirou, though Kazuha called him Arthur out of pettiness and the fact that it seemed to annoy him. It was hard to believe that guy had been her savior that had taken out two NOVAs by himself, two S-class NOVAs no less. He seemed so normal, so average, yes, he looked a bit like a delinquent with bleached white hair and dark tanned skin, but from what she had seen from his interactions with customers he had been courteous and nice.

Some would call her a stalker staying at a Lawson for two hours 'stalking' one guy but she herself called it "observation and research". What had been irritating about the white-haired male was his ability to ignore her no matter what she did. Kazuha would make faces at him, try to annoy him, but he would ignore her in favor of writing in his small notebook or looking out the large paned window next to the automatic doors. Yamato-san was nice though, he let her in to the cashier booth if she wanted to just sit next to Emiya, but of course she was ignored by the center of her attention.

Having to leave soon Kazuha wanted to make a final impression, however, she knew she would be ignored. She knew that in order to not be brushed off she had to be a customer, so she headed for the aisles. Grabbing a chocolate bar she headed back to the cashier and stood faced to face with an Emiya Shirou trying his best to give his current customer a forced smile. She stood there waiting for the cashier to slowly scan her purchase, the PANDORA had a hidden smile as she watched the man try his hardest to control his emotions. "This will be 140-yen." He finally said reading off the monitor with as much neutrality as he could afford.

Miss PANDORA reached into her bag to retrieve her purse, and to Shirou's surprise she took out a pink cat-wallet. Noticing the man's stare of disbelief at her choice of accessories she glared at him, "Don't say it." She blushed a bit at the embarrassment of having someone see her 'kawaii' wallet that definitely didn't match her age and occupation.

Taking his eyes off her surprisingly pink purse he smiled at her, "I didn't say anything."

"You were going to."

"Maybe. Maybe not," he smirked at her, definitely mocking Kazuha.

"Hmpfff." She puffed up her cheeks and pouted and ignored him in favor of picking up two 100-yen coins and handing it to him.

Without much care Shirou put the two coins into the money machine and waited for the change to come from the dispenser. Kazuha however was not so interested in silence, "I'll be back tomorrow."

Shirou sighed as two coins clanged out of the dispenser, "Here's your 60-yen change." Sighing again at the persistent girl instead of saying, 'please come again,' he simply shrugged in resignation, "try not to come back." His comment was offhand and lacked real volume to avoid the PANDORA's wrath, but she heard it anyways.

"Hn. Is this how you treat your customers?"

He simply shrugged and gave a her slight bow which she returned with one a little bit lower. With one last look at her nemesis she started out of the store to get to the bus that would bring her back to West Genetics.

* * *

"Tadaima," I called to nobody in particular as I stepped through the rice paper sliding doors of Izumo Inn. It was a habit for me to announce my entrance home, it was nice when I could get a reply to my proclamation, it made me feel loved to a certain degree.

A gentle voice with a slightly higher pitch called to me, "Okaeri, Shirou-kun." The first few days I would get surprised at being welcomed, a bit of nostalgia and happiness accompanying the shock of course, but I got used to it. As a side note Miya-san greets everyone coming home, it was nice for me at least since I used to live alone.

I could see her lean out of the kitchen doorway to see if it was really me, of course I am sure with her hearing sense there was no doubt she was a hundred percent sure who was coming through the door. At the same time an unavoidable sigh of exhaustion escaped myself.

She chuckled a bit, this time completely stopping her work in the kitchen and stepping out of the doorway to approach me from the hall. Her head bobbed as she chuckled at my demise causing her violet hair to bounce around. "Tough day at work Shirou-kun?" She started calling me by my first name a few days after moving into Izumo Inn, it was nice, the false sense of familiarity, to me who had constantly lived the battlefield it was a welcome relief.

I nodded sagely at her question, "Yeah, I had a tough customer, didn't know when to give up."

"Ara, ara? What was she trying to do? Could it be…" She opened her mouth to dramatize, I somewhat expected how she would reply from how I worded my reply, her teasing me was really my fault. "Could it be my Shirou-kun has an admirer?" She used the sleeves of her white and purple kimono to wipe her nonexistent tears, "I thought we had something special. How cruel."

I smiled at her antics, a bit of good-natured teasing is good for me. It brought my mind off things, off things like war and bloodshed.

"Now, now, Miya-san, don't get too happy at my misfortune." I smiled a bit without knowing exactly how to reply to her bantering. To tell the truth I had always been socially awkward and I will be continue being socially awkward in the future, I probably will never grow out of it. I'm just not that good with people in general, even my closest friends are still held at arms length, I have a mission, friends just aren't part of it.

"A difficult customer you say? Was it a she, or oh my god." Her sleeves now covered her wide opened mouth, "WAS IT A HE?" Then she laughed at me who could only frown without a retort.

"Now, now, Miya-san, don't get too carried away, and for your information it was a she, and it wasn't like that, she just wanted me to answer a few questions."

"Oh really? Like your phone number?"

"No, and for the record, I'd have trouble giving people my phone number when I'm not so sure what it is."

"Ara, ara. Then what did she ask you?"

I smiled at her finally finding something I can somewhat get back at her for, "It's a se-cr-et. I'm not gonna tell someone teasing me, am I?" I started to walk past her towards to the stairs that lead upstairs.

"Shirou-kun." I heard her call after me as I started up the stairs, "Shirou-kun. Shirou-kun." I could here Miya calling me, no doubt wanting to ask me more. It was strange, I'm sure she had a good amount of years under her belt but Miya sometimes act like a teenager, not even an young adult, other times she would be all mature and assuring, how strange.

* * *

Kazuha watched her red-haired roommate sleep soundly as the window let in a beam of white light from the moon. It reminded him of Shirou Emiya, the "codename Arthur". Due to her own reasons she had not yet told anyone about her findings, it was petty, but she was holding him secret since she wanted to keep him all to herself. It was a strange thought, to 'keep him to herself', he wasn't even hers in the first place.

It was unbelievable that Shirou Emiya had been her savior. He was tall, slim but muscular at the same time, but he didn't express it wearing somewhat baggy clothes to hide his body build. To her he was a giant standing nearly 190-centimeters tall against her 150-centimeter frame, he seemed so gentle too, joking with his employer, helping customers, doing normal stuff you would have expected from anyone working at a store. It was so surreal that under that façade of a gentle giant Shirou Emiya was a warrior, one that most likely exceeded her own elite skills, one that could even solo NOVAs.

She remembered his white hair, somewhat standing up like the remnants of a porcupine, his dark skin that seemed to be a tan rather than blood due to his Japanese descent. He had this delinquent feel to him with a piercing on his left ear and she did catch him smoking out in the back during one of his breaks. His eyes were paradoxical, gold and silver at the same time, a sort of auburn hue like her own but also glittering like cold steel. When he looked into her, when he stared into her own eyes it felt piercing, it was as if he was contemplating how to fight, almost like the gaze of a predator. These traits made him intriguing to Kazuha who was a PANDORA of unparalleled skills. These traits made him stand out, made Kazuha want to know more about him, to learn more, it was such a shame he was so unwilling to share.

But she will not give up, she will force him to talk. In the end Kazuha just couldn't get the infuriating white haired swordsman out of her mind. 'Urg, even now he invades my thoughts, how contemptible.' She didn't understand him, he didn't want to understand her or let her into his life that was for sure. Tomorrow, she will go to him, she will go find him and talk to him again, maybe he will be more willing to cooperate.

* * *

It had been a tiring day dealing with Kazuha, dinner had been peaceful if nothing else. There was some friendly banter that circulated the tableside, of course Hoover-san had not really contributed to the friendly atmosphere of our meal. It was interesting how that red haired girl seemed to keep to herself at all times, well Takebayashi-san, the young prospective college student had buoyant and chatty like always. It was an interesting contrast and definitely a welcome one at that. If both tenants were gloomy or talkative I'm not sure if I could survive.

Other than the trouble this afternoon there was nothing really going on for me, I didn't have the strength to start on my workshop, nor did I have the will. I just wanted to rest, I've been in war for years and years, a few weeks wouldn't kill me, I had eight years after all. What I do need to do however, is prepare for the upcoming battle tomorrow, with a certain Kazuha Aoi of course. I really don't want to worry about it now as I slowly crept into my futon, it was an eventful day, but it beats war any day. These thoughts ran through my mind as I slowly drifted into the dream realm, slowly falling to sleep

* * *

"_Sakura, Sakura," I saw her in a distance. She looked different, corrupted, evil from the Grail's hold on her. Her purple hair were bleached white, her originally violet pupils were now red. Angrya Mainyu changed her, encased her in a mana made garment that looked like a black skintight dress with red lines adorning her body. There were many extensions from the hem of her dress, each strip had a sharp looking tip. _

_Her presence was heavy, making the whole cave relatively unstable under the Grail's prana. Rin Tohsaka stood in a distance, panting. Sakura herself didn't fare any better, barely standing from abundance of mana she had expended. I had just arrived, but from the explosions I had heard from outside the cave I was sure the battle within must have be cataclysmic, the jeweled dagger in Rin's hands was smoking, she must have used it a lot. _

_The wall of the cave was also filled with this black, slimy substance, seeping from the many holes that surrounded the inside walls. These black substance flowed around, and at the center of the cave stood a pillar of black and red. A spire with three prongs protruding the top with a black mass of energy suspended in the air, it reeked of evil, and I must stop it as an ally of justice. _

_But first I must save Sakura, so I walked towards her, slowly moving forward with my already broken body. Using Rho Aias to counter Excalibur had been detrimental to my body, the holy sword from Saber had almost shattered the seventh petal of my shield, if it did my body would really have been broken. I was in pain, a whole world of pain, my body kept shifting, blades were underneath my skin, I could feel them sliding against each other, trying to knit my body back together. My red shroud had been abandoned for increased abilities, but it was the only thing keeping the foreign substance at bay, and once removed the blades within Archer's arm continued into my body, changing me, recreating me. _

_I walked slowly, each step creaking from the mass of swords working to heal me, each step was painful with some sword points spearing out of my body. My flesh was slowly being replaced, the few open gashes I had revealed the thousands of intercrossing swords moving beneath my skin. But my love for my kohai drove me forward, I kept walking towards her, the woman that I love. _

_Sakura finally noticed my presence, turning to meet me. I noticed that she was barefoot, what concerned me even more were the tears streaming from her eyes. She looked at me with sadness, it broke my heart to see her cry, I couldn't stand it. "Senpai, Shirou-senpai," she cried at me, her hands were outstretched, reaching for me, and I extended my hands also, to grab her with my arm. Then she shook her hand and crossed her arms, "No senpai, no, don't come any closer." I didn't listen to her, I just kept advancing. "No senpai, no, you'll get hurt…" She screamed at me with no avail. Her tentacle-like spears charged at me but I did not fear. The black spikes speared through my flesh, grazed me, only to be blocked by the swords protecting me, the swords working to protect me but at the same time killing me. _

"_No senpai, don't come any closer." She flailed her hands trying to keep me away, to keep me at a distance, but I will not be stopped._

_I smiled at her, smiled at the beauty that is Sakura Matou. "Sakura, I'm coming, just wait for a bit, I'm right here." I advanced ignoring her dark whips of malevolent energy striking at me._

"_Senpai…" she stopped resisting when I was almost upon her, her tears streaming down her eyes even more, it definitely broke my heart, her tears falling like rain. "Senpai." _

"_Sakura, I'm here Sakura, don't be afraid." _

"_Kill me senpai, or you'll die." I couldn't bear watching her tears fall. Each individual drop was like a pearl, beautiful, exceedingly beautiful._

_I put my arm around her neck embracing her. I ignored her whips striking into my back, the magic entangling her trying to push me away. "No Sakura, everything's gonna to be okay. Everything's gonna be okay." I put my arms around her back holding her warm body close, she also grabbed my back despite the whips attempting to lash against my body made of swords. _

"_Senpai…senpai, Shirou-senpai."_

"_Sakura." We both embraced each other, tears falling down our respective faces, "Sakura." _

_Then we slowly broke apart, she was smiling, I guess I must be smiling as well since her smile immediately brightened up my whole world. "Senpai, I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you so very much." _

_I smile at her words, they are everything I need, the words I abandoned my ideas for. I abandoned my dreams for her, for her I would do anything, even at the cost of my own. "I love you too Sakura, now do you trust me?" _

_She put her hands on my arm, gently holding onto me, "Of course senpai, of course I trust you."_

_I already knew her answer of course, "Everything's gonna be okay Sakura, we're gonna be okay." I already had a plan, I will save her. _

_I loaded an image into the proverbial gun within my mind. A certain dagger with a jagged purple blade. This was the dagger of Medea the Witch of Colchis, the Witch of Betrayal. This dagger can severe all magical contracts, this will free my love from Angrya Mainyu, this will save her. "Trace on: RULE BREAKER." I plunged my hand forward. BUt the only I saw was not the purple of Rule Breaker, but red. _

"_What…what the…" My mind was in chaos, what appeared in my hands was not the purple dagger I imagined, it was not the instrument that could be used to save Sakura, no, what appeared in my hand was a lance, a red lance that I was very familiar with. _

"_Senpai…senpai…I love you…" The color was leaving her face, the heat draining from her body. She still smiled as sad tears again streamed from her red pupils. "Senpai, it's okay senpai, it's okay senpai. Don't be sad. Don't cry. Don't cr...Don.." _

"_Sakura. No. Sakura No. Don't die."_

"_It's okay sen...pai. It's really okay." She gently held onto my arms, still smiling. "Thank you senpai, thank you for everything." She smiled at me again as the light left her tainted eyes, "I'm so tired. I think I need to. Sleep. Senpai, Aishteru. Sayonara. Shirou-senpai." She was formal and with her last breath she thanked me. _

"_No. Sakura. You can't die now, you can't, no. No. No. No. No." I hollered into the cavern at the unmoving body that laid there on the uneven ground, by now Rin had approached us from the far end of the cavern._

"_What the, Shirou." She shouted at me in horror seeing the red lance in my hands. _

_I turned to face her, the blood still warm on my face, "No. Sakura. No. Rin. No. I. I. I killed. I killed. I killed her." I couldn't talk, I couldn't think. I couldn't do anything. _

_She was enraged, definitely angry, tears fell from her normally unexpressive face. "Shirou, what the. What the hell are you doing?" Her was stuttering, she didn't know what to do. Neither did I. "No, this can't be true, my sister. No. This can't be. You murderer. No. Sakura, don't die." She screamed at me and Sakura alike. _

_My body was broken, my mind also broken, no. I will not fall here. I will be a hero. I cannot fall here. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO." I hollered again, howling into the empty cavern. "NOOOOOOOOOOO." _

"Wake up Emiya-san, wake up." I heard a distance voice.

* * *

"NOOOOOOOOOOO." I bolted upright, a knife in my hand as I intended to stab the person closest to me. I felt warm hands grab both my wrists, one of my hands holding the scruff of the assailant's collar, the other hand holding a combat knife ready to be plunged into the invader.

"Emiya-san, it's okay, it's just me." I recognized the voice, I recognized where I was, I wasn't in that cavern anymore, I saw a woman with long purple hair looking at me.

"Sakura?" I asked doubtfully, under the moonlight coming from the window she looked just like Sakura did, her violet hair let down behind her, it was breathtaking, beautiful. "Sakura?" I asked again at the lack of reply.

She held both of my wrists, whoever it was was powerful. I had unconsciously reinforced my body with od but I was still restrained. She gave me a sad smile before replying, "No Emiya-san, I am not Sakura, I am Miya, Miya Asama, your landlady."

It took a moment before the words registered into my mind as my right hand let go of the blade it was holding. Tears streamed down my face, "Of course not, of course you're not Sakura." I looked at Miya, who looked very much like Sakura, "Of course not, I killed Sakura. I killed her." My hands clasped my face as I threw up the contents in my stomach. It wasn't much, but it was still unpleasant.  
Her hand immediately started softly patting my back making sure I did not choke, "Emiya-san, Emiya-san, Emiya-san, are you all right?" She continued to stroke my back, "Emiya-san."

I couldn't say anything, I just continued to cry.

* * *

A/N:

Translations

Aisteru: I love you A/N: as opposed to the normal Daisuki which means I like you -or really like you, Aisteru is formal and actual "love". In fact it is pretty rare for a Japanese (exclude married couple) to use this form of wording for affection (or so I was told in Jap. class). It is much stronger, since daisuki could had been for dogs or anything you like, I felt like I needed to make a distinction.

Tadaima: I'm home

Okaeri: Welcome home

So Chapter 4

I was somewhat okay with how it turned out, content wise at least. I tried to build a sort of backstory to my version of EMIYA. I know some people won't agree that Shirou would want to rest, but I disagree. I think anyone who's been through would like to rest for at least a while before rejoining the fray again, but that's debatable.

The dialogue is kinda hard and stressed out and I'm not sure if it works, it seems kinda awkward to me but it's probably because I'm not a native speaker so it's really hard for me to get the dialoguing right. I'll work on that.

Grammar mistakes, there is bound to be many, and I mean MANY, as I said I'm not a native speaker, I'll correct it maybe. College Apps is hard stuff. I did get in IUB(Indiana Bloomington) though, not bad?

I tried hard, this chapter is a bit dry and almost like an interlude, the next few chapters will be all interlude-ish, but he will go into battle, cause even though he just got respawned there are still apostles and deads out there, not all of them died, same for magi too.

Some people said Shirou should work a diff job like a repair man, I'm like...why not clerk? I think a mundane job will be fine. I know it's kinda bad last chapter he like forged a ID really badly, but it's only a convenience store, their not that strict, I'm sure.

Read and Review, I worked hard, sorry if I disappointed anyone. BTW, their not gonna just fall in love, nobody just falls in love. I read a fanfic another day when Ria just went like "OHMYGOD HE"S HOT"(thoughts) towards ICHIGo( DXD /Bleach cross) i just exited tab.

YEAH

REad and Review, I appreciate and reply (most of the time?0_*)

-Wiltheavatar

A/N:(edit 12/5/2013)-some grammar changes and slight addition for the descriptions and slight deletion. only for the ending three scenes through, I didn't scroll up any further.

So someone complained about saying LoL in normal speech? really? Maybe it's an Asian thing but me and my peers do use LOL, not a lot, but it's there. I dunno what's wrong about it so I'm just making a point.

And yes, he/she is right, I should give credit to Sekirei.

I do feel slightly offended that he/she said the reason I added Izumo Inn was an inability to think of something new myself. I seriously thought I said in a previous A/N that the reason I added Izumo Inn and a slight Sekirei character cross was because I originally had a Sekirei/Fate cross planned, and I felt that I should pay tribute for cutting it down without even working on it a lot, to kind of make peace with myself, you ever have the feeling of ditching something halfway and finding yourself needing to do something about it? Well that's pretty much how it is. Other than the fact that it just fits.

Trust me, I'm not mad at all, just slightly confused at being judged.

Anyhow I appreciate anyone who reviewed, if you aren't a guest (the dude I talked about was) I generally replied

I understand that some people are disappointed at the chapter, or even want me to change it? LOL: say what? CHange it? Probably not. IF you don't like it then you don't like it, I don't cater to audience, I write what I planned, and I plan what I think.

Shirou's response to Kazuha had mixed reviews, well, as I said, I don't cater to the whims of my audience just because they are my audience. You chose to read, I didn't force nobody to read.

And for those who liked this chapter and previous chapters, Kudos to you.

12/07/2013 (GMT+8)

And I appreciate Shintouyu, who gets a special mention here since he/she mentioned in a review that I did well for Miya's teasing personality. I am quite happy I'm at least getting one char right, I get multiple complaints on how Shirou's not being "shirou/archer", well that really sux but I will try harder.

There had been some edits for grammar mistakes, there should be relatively less now that I did one read through...well, there's always room for improvements.

Read and Review :P Love u guys


	5. Chapter 5

Forward Unto Dawn

* * *

Chapter 5: An Unexpected Visitor

* * *

Despite remaining strong on the surface, sometimes I just can't deal with it, this impurity on my very own hands. Blood is hard to wash off, this guilt that comes with killing, this feeling of dirtiness, a phantom feeling of filth that just cannot be washed off. I don't know why, but I often find myself washing my hands, it's a subconscious habit, a constant scrubbing of my hard hands on each other. So I find myself scrubbing, ignoring the pain from both my palms, a burning sting of cold water running over my raw palms, raw from the friction that came from me trying to restore my innocence.

The bathroom door remained ajar, I did not close it, there was no need to. The urge to purify my hands overtook everything else, so I rushed to the sink, turned on the tap, and proceeded to wash, to try and regain my purity. It was still dark outside, the light from a nearly full moon entered from the glass panel window, illuminating the bathroom despite me not turning the lights on. I could see myself clearly, the eyes were red with tears gathering a the rims of my golden orbs, my face had lost its original sharpness, my facial features regressing due to the pain, regressing from my sobbing.

There was someone outside the door to the bathroom, I could feel her standing there. I could see from the mirror a slight shadow threatening to invade the room from the slightly opened door, the shadow of a person standing there, respectfully waiting for me to finish, giving me some privacy. She was the imposter, the one I mistook as Sakura, she looked just like my first love under the moonlight, her long violet hair, her aura of gentleness.

By now I finally had a semblance of control over my own actions, my subconscious obsession for washing my hands clean had been overcome. Slowly, I regained my composure, standing to my full height and splashing some water over my face to bring myself back into reality. "Asama-san?" I asked, taking note of the slight quivering that still exists within my voice. I coughed a few times to get my vocal chords back in working order before asking again, "Asama-san?"

The door creaked as she carefully opened the door to let herself in. She wore a white yukata with a purple obi which matched her hair.

I obviously noticed the not so subtle sheathed katana she held in her right hand with only its hilt and hand guard displayed since the edge was blocked by the door which was not completely opened. "Asama-san?"

"Are you alright Shirou-san?" She asked with a slight tension in her voice, I couldn't tell if she was angry or sympathetic, quite frankly she could be both at the moment. Immediately on guard seeing her blade I grabbed my own knife beside the sink, a ten-inch combat knife with a few runes inscribed upon it.

I looked her in the eyes trying to guess her intention; I could not find hostility, but at the same time I could determine if she was a friend. "I'd feel a lot better without that sword Asama-san." I gave her a dry chuckle hoping this will end without any conflict, she was my landlady after all, and I'm not even sure if I could beat her now.

She gave me a sad smile, "I'm afraid that's impossible Emiya-san." She gripped her blade a bit tighter and I mirrored the gesture ready to spring into action.

"I mean you no harm Asama-san, there's no need for this."

"Maybe, maybe not, but I cannot overlook this."

"So it comes down to this?" I let my od into the knife activating the runes placed upon it. "_dagaz, gyufu, sowilo."_ I muttered the name of the runes to activate them. The three runes are _'the day, a gift, and the sun.'_ I forged this weapon to hunt vampires, it reduces the dead's power with the day well I ask for a gift in form of a sun. All three are Anglo-saxon or Norse runes, as a side note ancient runes work better when paired with runes from the same age.

She raised an eyebrow at my quiet chanting, no doubt she already noticed the energy emitting from my dagger, it was kind of hard to miss a knife lit in a dark room. "Disarm yourself Emiya-san, I don't wish to fight."

Instead of immediately letting go of my dagger I looked at her with distrust, "Then what was your purpose?"

"To ask a question, one that will determine the outcome of our meeting here. I do not wish for this meeting to be mentioned again." By now I've noticed Miya was missing her normally friendly demeanor. Her light crimson eyes now actively shown in the near darkness, they were almost slits, full of bloodlust. After a few moments watching her I noticed that it wasn't bloodlust she was filled with, she didn't desire to hurt, she wanted to protect, to protect her peace.

I didn't immediately comply to her earlier demands, instead I twirled my weapon into a reverse grip to show a slight sign of submission, reverse grip is generally used more for defense and countering rather than attacking. I nodded to her, "Ask away Asama-san, and let's put this moment of unpleasantness behind us."

She nodded in acceptance of my words, "Yes, let's put it behind us." He eyes were no longer the slits they were a few moments ago, her capability for violence seemed to have disappeared in the matter of seconds. She didn't completely let go of her blade but she did relax a grip, an action that I again mirrored. "What did you do before you came here, do you mean Izumo Inn any harm?"

I returned her question with a serious gaze I wish expressed my sincerity, "No, I do not mean Izumo Inn any harm," I didn't want to answer her first question and I knew she knew I didn't want to, but she waited for me to answer. "And I was a hunter." I let that sink in a bit, I was sure she'd ask me to leave. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, deathly almost, I decided to continue, "I hun…"

Instead of hearing my elaboration of my previous occupation she held up a palm to stop me, instead of a scowl I had expected to be on her face there was a graceful smile that could have melted my heart if I had one. "It matters not Emiya-san, it was my husband Takehito's policy to not turn away those in need, you do not mean us any harm; I see no reason to break my beloved husband's tradition."

I bowed lowly to her for her kindness, "Thank you, Asama-san. You have no idea what this means to me."

She smiled again as she held me upright, "Don't thank me Shirou-san, you did nothing wrong, I do however hope your heart comes to rest."

What she doesn't know that it wasn't just her action of keeping me here that I was thankful of, it was her heart. To her I was not a monster, I rather strange thought to tell you the truth, I have always been a monster to the eyes of another. But maybe it was because she is more of a monster than I was.

I almost felt moved by her, just for a split moment I felt my heart sway from her kindness, I have to remind myself I cannot afford to change, no. As I walked out of the restroom behind the violet haired landlady named Miya Asama I repeated a line from my aria, "_fire is my blood, glass is my heart."_

She paused for a slight moment as if she could hear me in this distance. Then she continued walking forward without any indication of hearing my mantra.

* * *

My face was perspiring with sweat, little streams of salty liquid running not only down my bronze toned face, but my whole body as well. For exercises like this I wore a white sleeveless shirt and khaki shorts. Since my return from slumbering I've been working out day to day in order to retain my strength from the past, personally I don't think it's really working since a good majority of my strength comes from the 'artificial phantasm' AKA my left arm. The overload of information and experiences from my future part's arm seemed to have passively given me a watered down version of his physical parameters.

I'd probably never match a servant without resorting to my trump card even if I maximize my parameters with magecraft, but I do give dead apostles a run for their money every time I hunt. My future self was strong, despite the compatibility it had taken me months to slowly remove the Shroud of Martin and numerous runes to regulate the amount of energy it gave me so to not kill me and to trick the earth in not treating the arm as a "foreign entity", but I persevered. It gave me physical parameters akin to an assassin, in terms of servants it would be weak, but for a human it would be strong and too much for my body to handle.

It was because of that fact I had to actively train my body to the limits, have runes, and reinforce myself when I fight for real. Imagine an 8 liters W16 engine of a Bugatti Veyron, fastest street-legal sports car, stuck inside an old Toyota Camry. I'm not saying Toyotas are bad or anything, but with an engine that spits out a top speed of 431 kilometers per hour, a Toyota Camry's frame would simply collapse. Similarly EMIYA's arm was like an engine of a racecar, and my very normal human body, albeit a bit sturdier with the help of Avalon, was not as compatible as I originally thought. True the operation didn't outright kill me, but the power level of the arm along with its natural or unnatural rejection of another spiritual body slowly devoured me.

Even though the 'artificial phantasm' had been quite a hassle in the earlier days of acquiring it, it saved my ass on more than one occasion. It made me stronger, more deadly, and most of all it allowed me to uphold my ideals with an iron hand, or body if I want to be literal.

A smell of honey and a feeling of dread brought me back to reality. Stopping immediately I had my hands on my knife's handle and my center of gravity lowered to create a smaller target. It was an instinctive reflex to stay low, a sort of 'duck and cover' taught to the American schoolchildren during the Cold War.

I turned my head from side to side with reinforced sight in order to see who was it that smelled of magic and had such an intent. Then I felt it again, 'on the rooftop,' I immediately looked up only to find nothing there. The feeling of dread was uncomfortable, not only the feeling itself, but also what it meant. It was a strong killing intent, from an seemingly invisible foe. This told me two things about my assailant: the first was that this person was strong, the second was that this person was a 'hunter' no different then myself.

Scanning my surroundings one last time I knew my actions were probably useless. This person knew they were spotted and probably left immediately. It was useless to try and stalk my hunter, the best course of action was simply to keep going on with my life albeit with a higher guard than before now that my life may be in danger.

* * *

"Arthur." She was here again, how absolutely perfect. She got me off guard yesterday leaving with no choice but ignore her due to my lack of response. I had never been a eloquent guy preferring to stick to blood and violence, when she appeared yesterday I sort of panicked, and when I panicked I shut myself down and hoped she'd just leave. It was strange, normally when people are ignored for a while they get the message and leave, but this PANDORA was just too damned stubborn.

Yamato-san trying his hardest to concentrate on his cell phone, but I could tell he was laughing in his mind. It might had been because he was using his hand to cover his snickering, or the fact that his hand was doing a poor job of hiding the sound of his chuckles.

I turned to my visitor, if I remembered the manual had a policy against visitors, but I think that was just my mind being delusional, after all Yamato-san has had a few visitors drop by and chat with him every now and then. I nodded to her acknowledging her greeting despite her getting my name wrong, "Aoi-san." I could tell she was slightly surprised at my sudden change of attitude.

But she rebounded fast, her slightly widened eyes immediately snapping back to their original sharpness. "Arthur." She stated her name for me a second time, why I did not know.

"Aoi-san." I nodded to her again.

"Arthur." It was quite confusing why she kept repeating that word, every time she said it a slight uncomfortable feeling would run through me making me shudder a bit. Maybe this was why she kept saying that word?

"Aoi-san." I nodded to her a third time, "May I remind you that my name happens to be Emiya Shirou. You can call me Emiya." I had a polite tone, a socially acceptable pleasant tone I normally use against troublesome people that I had to be polite to. This girl was strong, I was sure of it, maybe not stronger than me but she was a PANDORA fighting NOVAs, I needed to know more about her 'organization' if I was to keep protecting mankind.

She grinned, "Hahahahaha…I finally got a reaction out of you Arthur." I shuddered once more, "And I never forgot your name, I just choose not to use it." She was slightly infuriating, just slightly.

"Very funny."

She smiled again, "It is."

"Okay?" It was more of a question than a statement, to tell the impression she gave me now was more on the childish side, then again she was like this yesterday excluding the times she was angry with me.

"Hehehe."

I looked at the strange girl with long black hair and brown eyes, she wore a white blouse today opposed to her t-shirt yesterday, and instead of denim shorts she wore a red miniskirt paired with the same high heels she had worn before. "So?" I raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner, I probably knew what she was here for, no, I definitely knew what she what she was here for, but I just wanted to make sure. "So why you here?"

She looked at me then lifted her hands to straighten her hair, inside I screamed, 'there's nothing wrong with it, just get to the point' but she was no mind reader. Then she straightened her red hair band, I concluded that she was nervous from the excessive movements she is exhibiting. "You know why I am here."

"And you know I can't answer your questions."

She looked at me, completely serious as opposed to her earlier bashfulness, this must mean a lot to her. "Can't or won't."

She was sharp, a general, a guardian of mankind. She was a PANDORA, no, she was much more than 'just' a PANDORA, she was like 'The PANDORA', the herald of mankind, the shield between humankind and extinction. She deserves my respect, much more than just my respect, but I cannot answer her, I do not know the state of the magical society after fifty years of hibernation but I know if they existed the statute of secrecy would still have prevailed.

I smiled at her sadly, "I can't Aoi-san, the same reason you cannot go around spilling state secrets." I had been described as cynical my whole life, but there are times when the personality of my old self won out, pangs of generosity, slight instances of my nonexistent kindness.

"Whaa…?" Her eyes were widened and I knew why, I just implied I worked for some bigger organization, that I was just a clog in a bigger wheel, a wheel with confidentiality not different from that of a country's. It was not a slip of tongue for me to imply that, I know there will be consequences to my words, her assumptions will lead to her superior's assumptions, which will lead to a whole world of complications. Complications I cannot afford.

I looked at the time, the long hand almost hitting the twelve well the shorter hand almost overlapped the five. "Why don't we take this outside Aoi-san?" I have a chance to buy her silence, I need to intrigue her enough to keep it a secret well at the time making sure nothing of importance is spilled.

I gave a lax wave to Yamato in the chair a distance from us, he looked up from his cellphone and nodded with an added wave. With his approval I led the black haired PANDORA to the back door, to where we were yesterday, but this time I have to be intent. "Is there anything you need to know?"

The alley was slightly dark despite the sun still hanging high in the sky. It was summer, and the sun sets later in the summer, sometimes as late as seven in the afternoon. I sat at the bench I had sat in the previous day; instead of standing in front of me like she did yesterday Kazuha chose to sit down next to me. There was a comfortable silence for a moment before she cleared her throat and started "You know I kept you a secret?"

To tell the truth I was slightly surprised although the possibility of my location being undisclosed to her superiors did occur to me yesterday when I thought about our eventual confrontation. I hadn't expected her to keep me a secret, but I should somehow use this to my advantage. "Oh really now." I paused a bit choosing my next few words carefully, "I was under the assumption I was a hunted man."

She shook her head to deny my statement, "You were a hot topic Emiya-san, but Chevalier simply doesn't have the resource to conduct a hunt right after a big NOVA clash." What she said made sense, it seemed that I'm not a major priority yet, which was good.

"Resources?" I asked with a questioning tone, I was genuinely surprised at this 'lack of resources,' I was under the assumption that Chevalier controlled most of the world. I voiced my confusion, "I thought Chevalier controls most of the resources in the world, how could they have a 'lack of resource.'"

She shook her head again, "No. Chevalier is simply like an international military organization funded by many nations and given authority, however, nations are still sovereign to themselves and Chevalier by no means control a majority of resources in the world."

"I see." It made sense in a way, almost like UN, just more belligerent.

"You don't know much about this do you."

I chuckled a bit, "Some would deem the lack of such information normal."

She frowned a bit at my joking remark, "But not you."

"I'm a bit different."

"How so?" I stole a glance at her finding her staring right back at me. Her brown eyes gazed at me with such intensity, such innocence. I've seen the eyes of many people, hers told me she had no ulterior motives, she genuinely wanted to know, it was unfortunate I cannot afford to give her the answers she sought.

I smiled, "Just a bit different, ya'know, here and there." My sudden cheerfulness broke the seriousness of our conversation, breaking the tension that had sprung from the topic we had talked about, no, not really talk, but the questions that had been thrown onto the metaphorical board.

"I most certainly do not."

I took out a pack of cigarettes and withdrew a white stick and stuffed it into my mouth, with practiced ease I took a lighter from my breast pocket and easily lit the cigarette in my mouth. My habit seemed to annoy her as she stared at the offending white stick in my mouth, glaring at it. "You know smoking doesn't really matter."

"But it kills you."

"Hahahahaaahaha…" I laughed out loud at her statement giving her a slight shock. "Really Kazuha? Smoking kills you."  
Her cheeks were slightly red at embarrassment, as if she had said something wrong, like she did yesterday when she was embarrassed her cheeks puffed up like a puffer fish as she pouted at me. "It does Emiya-san, it gives you lung cancer."

I looked her in the eyes, the cheerful light that had been in my eyes a few moments beforehand completely gone. My sudden change of demeanor seemed to surprise her, but except from a slight widening of pupils she gave no other signs of being surprised. Then I spoke, my tone subconsciously changed to contain a certain feel of seriousness, "I'll assure you this Aoi-san, smoking is the least of my worries." It kind of surprised myself how deep and dark my tone was when I said that particular statement, it was partly because of the sudden flashes of violence that ran across my mind as I thought that, but at the same time I was cursing Root for all the problems that exist.

She looked down a bit well I looked away in slight embarrassment at my emotional outburst, "We live violent lives, PANDORA-san, unmei, this is the fate of those who live by the sword." I paused a bit before looking at the sky and reaching out. I curled my hand into a fist as if I was grabbing something, the sun's rays glowed around my fist, a burning fist. Then I looked at her and gave her a sad smile before completing my earlier statement, "In the end we die by the sword." I could tell she felt slightly distraught at my words, I was too, I never liked thinking about it, but it was the truth.

When I turned to her I could see a redness that bordered her chestnut eyes, "I know. I know…" there was a slight quivering in her voice, and a single drop of tear ran down her cheeks, "I know Emiya-san, but I…" Another drop, "I was so afraid." Her voice became tremble, "I was so afraid, so afraid, during the clash, I was so afraid." Tears continued to stream down her eyes, "It was so." She couldn't continue, "It was so. So. So violent. So."

It was so strange hearing someone talk about their first battle. Recognizing how different it was from my own. My own "first" had been fast, it had been bloody, and it had been brutal, a quick stab in the heart, that was my first battle. A conflict against something that was so different, so strong, it wasn't even a proper battle, I had no chance to retaliate. Maybe this was what chilled my heart, the fact that my first battle had been against an insurmountable foe; throughout my whole career as a freelancer I had never felt confident in my chances of victory. I believed in my skills, the skills I inherited from myself, but at the same time I accepted the fact that my enemies were faster, stronger, and better than myself, and I along with my future self had crafted a whole art being inferior than our enemies.

This was probably why I never really received this shock from my battles. At first I've always lost, or at least I had always lost, until I found this strength within myself, then I found victory, but my victory was hollow, no different from losing. Despite not having the same experiences as her and being unable to actively relate to her I knew what she was feeling. I've seen a lot of people go through their first battles, I've teamed with some first timers who went through the same thing they did, this fear, this agony, sometimes it made them stronger, other times it broke them. Because I understood her I sympathized with her, and because of that I foolishly withdrew a small pink handkerchief courtesy of Miya and handed it to her.

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes, at my outstretched hand that was holding a ridiculously pink handkerchief. One glance at her face and I looked away; before she had been beautiful, she had the aura of confidence, she had the strength of a general. Her crying face did her no credit, to preserve her image of an indomitable and strong woman I refused to look at her tears. Or maybe it was just because I was too embarrassed to look at a crying girl, or maybe it was because of my embarrassment regarding my pink handkerchief. All these were viable theories, I do prefer the first one but the third one seems to be the most possible.

I let her cry as she clutched onto my handkerchief, I gave her the privacy she needed, she probably hadn't let the events of the 8th NOVA clash four weeks ago catch up to her. Without a glance backwards I left through the 'employee only' door with the sound of a sobbing girl resounding deep within my mind. I couldn't help but utter a name, "Sakura."

* * *

Long brown hair fanned out from covering her back, she wore it untied and exposed letting it run the way he liked it. He had been important to her, not a lover, more of a friend and confidant. They led similar styles of life, instead of having a stable lifestyle they were both freelance mercenaries who fought for a living. They had paired up several times in jobs and she knew he was strong despite him not agreeing with her evaluation. Despite some friction that occurred almost daily due to conflicting personalities the two had enjoyed their time together and bantered on a daily basis.

She stood on top of a building in the shopping district of Tokyo City, overlooking a common Lawson store. More importantly she was glaring daggers at a certain white haired clerk with a dark haired girl. From an observer's viewpoint that man was not a typical Japanese, but that girl was an ideal Japanese beauty, not that she'd admit it of course. He seemed to be looking for something glancing out the paneled window at times despite the girl talking to him, it was interesting watching the woman reprimand him every once in a while for his inattentiveness. Any other observer would probably think that was a case of "love sickness" with a young girl visiting her lover on working hours but this watcher knew differently. She knew him, knew how he operated, and knew the mantra he lived his life by. Despite glaring at the young seemingly flirting couple she couldn't help but smile as she recited a familiar rhyme, "His body was made of swords, fire is his blood, and glass his is heart." She opened her blouse a bit to see a star shaped scar that ran over where her heart would have been. She ran her right hand over it, watching the pink discolored piece of skin that just wouldn't match the flesh beside it.

Smiling again she remembered how that man knew nothing about life.

* * *

I had been paddling my bike like I always did, heading towards Izumo Inn like I always did after work. But unfortunately it turned out this was not 'just another day' blasted root, why can't Alaya just give me a break and spare me from this crazy world.

At first there was nothing wrong, I paddled absentmindedly, talking with Kazuha had been fun and she hadn't pried much into my affairs after her emotional breakdown. We chatted, talked about normal stuff like the weather and Yamato-san. And she asked me to call her Kazuha without honorifics in return for her calling me Shirou, despite her being slightly forceful with her request it was definitely better than being called Arthur on a regular basis.

The conversation today had been a total victory for me, throughout the whole conversation I hinted on the importance of secrecy without prying into her own secrets, and in the end she promised not to tell. Of course I'm not naïve enough to believe this status quo will end but she is a honorable woman, and I choose to have faith in her.

'Shit.' There was a scent of sweetness in the air as I immediately brought my bike to a stop and dropped it in favor of ducking and scanning my surroundings. 'Someone's coming, and fast.' I loaded the blueprint of a certain spear into my metaphorical gun and held tightly onto my enchanted knife. The scent of honey and feeling of discomfort assaulted my senses, "_dagaz, gyufu, sowilo" _I felt the familiar hum of my own magic coursing into the knife in my hands as I continued scanning my surroundings.

I stayed silent watching every movement with my reinforced senses, whatever that was coming was close, closer than I'm comfortable with. Still crouched on the ground and tensed up for a fight I broke the silent between my assailant and myself. "Come out now whoever you are." There were no replies, "I know you're there." Still empty. The eerie surrounding of a park after dark left a certain uneasy feeling deep within me. The streetlamp flickered extending the bushes' shadows making it hard for me to perceive the environment. It was summer, but even at night during the summer the wind still contained a certain chill to it, striking against my exposed arms and brining my hair vertical.

'There', a small movement, a rustle of leaves beneath a nearby tree was all it took for me to spring into action, I saw the shadow of my assailant, one that was the property of a somewhat busty girl with long straight hair. I couldn't make out her face in the darkness as I pounced on her with my blade in a forward grip ready to stab into the soft flesh of my enemy.

But I never reached my enemy since she hopped backwards to avoid my frontal blow, only by an inch which put her right in front of me outside my reach. "Bam." I felt an impact on my waist which through me back.

'Fuck that hurts.' My enemy was strong, whatever she did broke through my guard. She caught me with perfect timing dodging my stab with a step backwards but retaliating with a roundhouse kick since I was right in her range. My back hurts from impacting a nearby stone wall, I should have reinforced but I was careless, I thought I could win.

Without a second thought I ran my od through my body reinforcing my muscles and bones to the maximum efficiency. At the same time as my reinforcement a few runes also illuminated itself as my od ran through it. Within a moment my body had the strength of a servant, albeit a very weak one at that but it was something, probably more than enough against my unknown assailant considering the fact I wrestled an Apostle to the ground once empty handed.

With my new speed I was behind my stalker in one stride which I followed with a horizontal slash, I never expected this to hit and as if I could see the future she ducked in response to my aggression.

But that was not the main attack. Using the momentum of my purposely strong swing I twisted my whole body and let my legs go doing a backwards roundhouse kick. I definitely caught her off guard to a degree since I gained a clean strike feeling the softness of human flesh against my reinforced shoe sole.

"Offf…" She cried in what I assumed to be pain as she was flung backwards from the strength of my kick, I didn't let her recover as I dashed forward with my knife to perform a few more attacks at my debilitated enemy. "Shirou."

Hearing that voice I froze immediately. Her voice was familiar, but where had I heard it before? I recognized this voice, an image of red running through my brain as I tried to remember who it was that I had encountered. "Shirou." I looked up at her, finally under the illumination of the faltering streetlight, a shocked expression ran across my face as I saw who it was.

"What the?"

"Yes Shirou, it's me."

The hell? Why is she here, "Aoko-san?"

"Yup."

"The hell?"

"That's a greeting?" Her pale face scrunched up a bit at my question?

I looked at her with my mouth agape, "What the, shouldn't you be a granny?"

Right after I said that I received a knee in the groin which I instinctively protected. Her normally blue eyes were red now, her normally short frame a bit taller, no towering, "What was that Shi-ro-u-kun?" For a moment she towered over me. "A granny?"

Shaking my head profusely I had no interest in fighting "The Blue." Sweat dropped from my neck as I looked at her with a forced smile, "You probably heard wrong Aoko-chan, how lovely, nice to see you."

"Hmpff, as unflattering as always."

"I didn't recount you being anything that'd put you in a good light." I nodded sagely. "By the way, what's with the age?" She looked at me as if I asked a stupid question which I probably did, she was the master of the Fifth Magic-time. "My bad."

"Anyways Shirou-san, fancy seeing you here when I heard you d-ed."

"It's a strange city with all those leylines lying dormant. You do know where we are don't you?"

She looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "I've been casting before your dad's been in diapers, of course I know where we are." She paused a bit, "Fuyuki city, the best place for large scale rituals due to the exceptional amount of natural leylines."

"Yes, and they are truly exceptional, before you ask I don't know how I'm back. Alaya can do strange things."

"Alaya? You'd go as far as to blame the world?"

I laughed a bit a her statement, "Who else is there to blame?"

She nodded in acceptance of my statement in form of a question, "True dat."

Then her eyes became serious but at the same time gentle and warm. Closing the distance between us in a few strides with her long legs she approached with apparent ease. Looking me in the eyes meeting my golden orbs with her baby blue ones she put her arms around me, holding me close.

I could feel the warmth of her body as she put her face into my chest, I could feel her stroking my back slowly and gently, like a mother would. "How have you been Shirou?" Her speech was wavering, it was as if she would cry.

"Nothing, I'm fine, I'm…"

She stopped me putting a finger to my mouth. By now she had stepped backwards so a small rift existed between us, "Don't." Her normally cheerful demeanor had been dropped, replaced with trembling lips and distraught eyes. "Before you say anything." She put a hand on my chest. "I have to say this. I promised to say it, I wanted to, but I couldn't."

"What? Aoko-san? What's wrong?" She was on the verge of tears, I had a little bit more of experience regarding crying girls since I just met one before, but this was Aoko, "The Blue" we're talking about.

She looked into me, eyes to eyes, gazing into me. "I'm sorry." She put her let her head fall onto my chest looking downwards, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She kept muttering her apologies but I did not want them.

I put a hand on her hair slowly stroking her long brown hair, despite being maybe nearly three times my age she still acted like a young girl sometimes, the product of near immortality I guess? "It's okay Aoko. It's okay. I told you to go, it was for the sake of mankind. I told you…"

She put a hand on my mouth covering it, stopping my ability to talk. "I should have stayed, maybe you wouldn't have." Aoko never cries, it was a rule Aoko Aozaki never cries, but her tears fell down her eyes anyways, "Maybe you wouldn't have died."

We stayed like that for a while, Aoko connected to me through her forehead on my chest, my hand running through her silky brown hair. We stood like this under the night sky, under the bright moon, enjoying the chilly wind of summer and reminiscing about the past.

* * *

'He had been nice today.' Kazuha thought to herself. Emiya Shirou had indeed been nice today, contrary to how he had acted the day before. 'He probably just wasn't ready.' She finally concluded as she stayed up again thinking about a certain white haired swords man. He was sarcastic at times with a few axioms he liked to state at random moments, but most of the time he was nice and gentle. He made some jokes, some darker but others light, and he talked about his past like his time in school and his hobbies, who could have figured he'd been a good repairman during his high school career. The day had been rewarding just chatting with him, Kazuha rarely talked with the guys at school bar her friend's limiters, the guys were generally scared of her and the rest of numbers, and Kazuha had never been interested in being with male outside her relatives and her best friend's friends.

It was a strange notion to want to know more about someone. The black haired PANDORA had taken it for granted that she knew everything about her friends. They were comrades in arms, they had almost no secrets with each other. Her family she definitely knew a lot about, it was this entrance of a completely new character that shook her seemingly perfect world. If one were to describe Kazuha a prime word would be sheltered. Sure she had been in a military academy since early in her life but she had a decent life before that. She lived with her uncle, her mother hadn't liked her but that was a minor problem. Her aunts had taken very good care of her and Kazuya, and her uncle Gengo Aoi had been supportive of her ever since day one. But this Emiya Shirou was so different and mysterious it prompted her to learn more.

Just like last night she watched Emily sleep soundly from the bed on the other side of the room. She herself was lying on her own bed looking out the paned window. 'I should tell my friends,' She concluded, she promised not to tell Chevalier about him but her friends are okay right? Right?

With her last thoughts on Shirou Emiya Kazuha closed her eyes and entered the realms of Morpheus.

* * *

"So why are you here?"

She looked at him this time in a look he discerned as 'businesslike', then she spoke. "A hunt had been called."

At that his mouth split into a grin, "A hunt you say? Now tell me more."

* * *

A/N:

So chapter 5?

It was a fast update, don't get used to it

Again this is an interlude with promises of action in the next chapter or the one after

I think I explained it a bit but Shirou had an one eighty attitude change since he prepared. He's never been eloquent

As for fight with Miya, or absence of it I'm not sure if that's believable, but yeah suck it up?

Nothing much to say on this chapter, it's pretty light hearted

ANd no, AOko is not in love with Shirou

NO Kazuha is not in love with shirou

No Miya is not in love with shirou

There's no pairings right now, Kazuha's fixation is like when you had ur first crush, you feel obsessed, but your'e not in love, I explained, she's pretty sheltered.

R&R, I'll edit over a few days, and if things come up that's important I'll add to A/N

Till Next time, do read and review

-Wiltheavatar

PS: About EMIYA Arm, I'm ready to change it any time if there are glaring problems with how it was explained, don't get mad, I'm not that good with mechanics but if you point out the faults I'll change it, It wasn't plot constructive, just like a backstory explanation


	6. Chapter 6

Forward Unto Dawn

* * *

Chapter 6: Blood and Fire

* * *

"A hunt you say?" I was genuinely intrigued, it had been a while since I've participated in a hunt and I wanted to test out my skills.

Aoko nodded enthusiastically allowing her brown hair to bob up and down swaying with the motion of her head. "Yup, a hunt, and a lot of prominent Enforcers were called in, the apostle's pretty strong apparently."

"An apostle?" She nodded at my question. "How very intriguing, a new one?"

She her head, "No, pretty old really, nearly four hundred already. The thing is this guy's been hibernating since his fall more than a century back, Vladmir Brezhnev, named 'Bloodfire Marques' by the executors. You've heard of him?"

"Can't say I have. Russian?" The name wasn't familiar, I've hunted many apostles in my time and some threatened me with names of other apostles who will hunt me, but this one didn't register to me at all.

"Nah, during his time it was all part of the same empire, I'd say German but really, his origin is sketchy at best, I can say he's pretty strong though."

"Depends on how much the Association brought to fight."

She smiled a bit, "A whole lot, twenty six-magi were called, some freelancers including one Fraga."

"A Fraga? Damn, this one's gotta be strong." It isn't entirely rare for Fragas to emerge as freelancers or enforcers due to the ancient family's militant teaching, but that's in Europe, it's definitely rare for a Fraga to travel all the way to the orients.

"Yup, A Fraga, Ava Fraga if I'm not mistaken, one of the wielders."

A wielder of Fragrach, how nostalgic, I fought a Fraga a few years before my demise, he was strong, but I was better. During the fight I did manage to catch a glimpse of Fragrach and record, in fact, I only managed to beat him by resorting to pure hand-to-hand combat after I avoided the counter with Avalon. It was lucky of me really that I had such a cheat code that saved my life many times throughout my life. Well I'm not proud of it I did manage to scavenge a few reinforcement runes from the Fraga I murdered, then again a good majority of it was tied to his blood and was useless to me.

"Bad memories? I remembered there were rumors of a fight between you and a Fraga when you were still active."

I sighed at her mocking, "Yes, it was a fight, a tough one indeed, but the result is that I remain standing and he remains buried."

"No need to get stingy." She chuckled a bit at my unhappy thoughts about my near defeat.

"So this Vladmir, he's really that strong?"

She shrugged at my question, "No one really knows really, from what I heard he fought the Wizard Marshall and survived."

My eyes widened at that claim, to fight a Wizard Marshall to survive was a feat in itself, to fight 'the' Wizard Marshall and survive is nothing short of a miracle, admittedly if I prepared I may have a chance with everything I got but that's another story. "Which one?" I asked hesitantly, the answer will determine whether this apostle was strong, or hyper strong.

"Unfortunately, both of them."

"Fuck." That was the only word that could be used to describe the situation. "Fuck."

"Indeed."

"This is like surprise butt sex. They're so screwed, is Barthomeloi coming?"

She shook her head, "Don't think so, she's not that fond of me ya know?"

"Steal her prey one too many times?"

She laughed a bit, "Not my fault she's so obsessed with vampires, I just hunt what's in front of me."

"Spoken like a true slacker."  
"Baka, baka." We both laughed a bit at the cheerful atmosphere of our bantering.

Then I asked the real question that was dying to be asked, "You staying for the hunt?"

She shook her head once more allowing her auburn hair to sway behind her, "I came to inspect the NOVA you know, then I saw you at the clash and yeah, shit happened. I have a job all the way in America ya know, a sealing designate, philosopher-class, doing harm to the public and all that good stuff, ya know the deal."

I nodded in acceptance, "I get what you mean, philosophers, what a menace, I hunted a few down in my career, never die cleanly."

"No shit, a good amount of them were aiming to be an apostle in the long run or stuff like that."

I nodded, philosophers are generally dangerous to the public since they disregard the codes of conduct. A good amount of times philosophers research in vampirism since they want to have more time to further their research, other times they're just plain mad, either way their they tend to be hard to kill or retrieve.

"So twenty-six magi against a very powerful apostles, anyways, why isn't this guy an ancestor anyways? Shouldn't he be strong enough?"

She nodded, "He's definitely strong enough to rival most of the less obscure ancestors, as for why he isn't a dead apostle ancestor, well, he doesn't really care about humanity that much, just keeps to himself and all that good stuff."

"Uncommon."

"Yup, uncommon for someone strong, but he has been sleeping for a century now, but before that I think he simply lorded over his birthplace occasionally helping the executors by hunting down apostles in his territory, so he isn't really a threat to humanity."

It wasn't uncommon for some apostles to simply ignore humanity, I'm assuming he just created his own territory and stood on it like a boss. "So why is there a hunt called for him when it's been relatively peaceful?"

"The NOVA." There was slight alarm in her voice, I was confused.

"The NOVA?" I repeated, I have no idea what she meant.

"Yes, the NOVA." She confirmed then went on to elaborate, "When it appeared, as you know Fuyuki city is filled with natural leylines, it suddenly woke and came to Japan, it's totally unprecedented you know, I'm pretty sure Bloodfire Marques never ever set foot on the orient bar China maybe."

"So because he decided to travel we're gonna face him, not saying the enforcers can beat him anyways, but we're gonna hunt him? This is ridiculous, facing an enemy of that caliber the enforcers will be hunted instead."

"Well, there are a few executors coming."

"Wow that's rare, so the Vaticans want a leg up on this apostle as well? To work together, I've rarely seen such an occurrence."

She shook her head, "That's only you. After the first clash there was so much prana left behind by the NOVA that apostles and vampires started being stronger. The saturation of magic is much higher than before, of course we can't really notice it since we don't draw that much energy from the air anyways but the apostles are getting much stronger, and as an affect much more bold."

What she said was true, the air felt heavier, not by much, but it was something. It's like global warming, it may only increase the temperature by one to two degrees every few years but consider the size of the Earth, to increase overall temperature by one to two degrees globally was a big deal. Humans do take magic from the air, but not that much compared to some of the obscure apostles with abilities that draw from nature itself, and definitely not compared to those ancestors who can use marble phantasms. I personally use a lot more od than prana so it doesn't effect me that much, so I didn't really take notice of the difference.

"So the executors and the enforcers work together?" I asked, it wasn't exactly unheard of for executors and enforcers to work together in specific cases, rare yes, impossible, no.

"Not exactly, after the tragic loss during the First Clash they were forced to acknowledge the usefulness of each other, it's like we won't kill each other since magi are so rare nowadays, most of the stronger ones died fighting for mankind and more importantly their research."

"It was a terrible battle."

"It was, wasn't it?" An uncomfortable silence fell between us two, no doubt she was thinking of the clash, how she left during the middle. She had to, her magic was severely limited by the freezing field deployed the NOVA, she'd just get herself killed. No doubt she still beat herself up because of it, she was never able to take losses easily. "I wish I hadn't left."

"Don't, Aoko-san, don't."

"I'm serious." She looked down at her shows, I put a hand on her silky hair, it's hard to imagine someone her age looking so young, must have something to do with her magic, after all who understood time better than her?

"Don't take it there, I asked you to leave, I chose to fight, we chose to fight."

She screamed "I could have healed you!"at me with her face still down, so was this the center of her conflict, that I might not have died due to her magic, like how she saved another nearly a century ago? "I could have saved you." She looked up at me, completely different from what she previously was like. Throughout our conversation she had gone from mentally unstable to normal, now back to breaking point, she really wears her emotions on her sleeves, how un-magi-like. "I could have saved…I could have…saved you…" There was a slight red color around her eyes, her voice was sniveling, choking on her tears.

I stroked her soft hair, soothing her, she was my friend after all. "No Aoko, I wouldn't have wanted to, the price humanity would have to pay in the future, no, I wouldn't dare condemn my race." It was true, the fundamental rule of nature, a gift and a price, to heal me the energy from reverting time would have to go somewhere, or some time. "I didn't mind dying after all, it let me see her." I looked up at the moon, it was dark already, the nearly full moon shining in the distant darkness, "Sakura, I wouldn't mind meeting her again, but Alaya has other plans."

We looked each other in the eye, she asked softly, "You still love her don't you?"

I smiled, remembering Sakura's smile, her violet flowing hair, all her beauty, her gentleness. "How could I not? I betrayed myself for her, how could I not."

She nodded at my proclamation using her sleeves to remove the tears hanging on her face. "Yes, how could you not."

I changed the atmosphere immediately by asking about the hunt "So twenty-six magi against an impossibly strong apostle? That's a menace."

"No, twenty seven." I was a bit puzzled by her reply, 'Twenty-seven? I was sure she said twenty-six.'

"Ah? A new recruit? I thought you said twenty-six." I could kind of expect what happened next, did I like it, no, could I expect it, yes.

She handed me a small card which I received, she smiled at me, her tears gone, her scrunched up face disappearing back to the original Cheshire grin, mocking me, "Here."

I read the piece of paper, it turned out to be my old ID, a very old ID with a few updates, 'Shirou Emiya, Tokyo, 12/12/2038.' "What the fuck? This is…"

"The date of the first clash with your appropriate age." She finished my answer, "An ID for you, you see that symbol, that's the new Association symbol, I had it drawn out for you the moment I saw you during the clash."

"The fuck?"

"You'll need it, just put yourself down as a Freelancer, gluck."

"Wait, Aoko….wait…" I was flabbergasted, but by the time I regained my bearing she was already a good distance away from me, too far for me to return this. "Wait up."

"Hahaha, gluck, the transport is at Ikeburo Station, 1900 hours in two moons, just look for suits, yeah, you should wear one too. Don't be late."

"You witch." I shouted after her.

She's already on her scooter with a helmet on her head, "Thanks, don't be late, save them, fulfill your dreams." At that I stopped screaming, yes, I wanted to save them, yes, I needed to save them. To fulfill my dreams I will see to it that they survive, no matter what it takes.

I looked at her leaving figure, unable to stay mature at her childish actions, "You suck," I called after her.

* * *

She visited him again today, she didn't plan to but her obsession took over and she went downtown after her classes at West Genetics.

"Kazuha?" She didn't really dare go in yet, waiting outside leaning to look into the shop well hiding behind a wall. What she didn't realize is her target in question was right behind her coming into the shop from where ever he was, from the smoke wafting of him Kazuha deducted that he was probably smoking.

"Eeeeepppp..." She squeaked turning around to face the tall man with bronze skin and white-silver hair. "Shirou-san, don't scare me like that..." she said in a meek voice accompanying her squeak.

He chucked a bit, "Did you just...eeppp?" He laughed a bit at her response but received a smack on the back of her head as a result .

"Argggg..." She glared at her well having a moment to recollect herself, "What I meant is, what are you doing here Shirou-san?" Her tone changed from a timid voice to her usual confident tone.

"Haha, well I was just catching a smoke." He motioned to his uniform's breast pocket which had a red pack of cigarettes.

"Those things will kill you some day." She nodded sagely, agreeing with her own statement.

He laughed a bit, "Maybe, maybe, so Kazuha-san, what'cha doing here?"

"Nothing, just wondering around."

Snorting a bit at her he asked with a bit of doubt, "So you're wondering here, the end of the shopping district with all that 3C products?"

Nodding well looking a bit embarrassed, "Yeah,I use all that electronics, definitely, just shopping for some electronics."

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow in doubt which caused the PANDORA to narrow her eyes into a slit.

"Really really, not stop doubting me and invite me in, your precious customer." She motioned for him to invite her in with a wave of her hand that wasn't clutching her bag.

"This ain't my house you know?" but his opinion was ignored, as always.

The rest of the evening was spent just chatting when there weren't many customers, Yamato-san would cut in and make some lewd comments which resulted in Shirou arguing with him. It was peaceful, hard to imagine a few days ago Kazuha had been ignored by the very man that was welcoming her warmly and talking to her normally. It was also hard to imagine this man, no, maybe not even man was someone capable of defeating a NOVA, two NOVAs. It scared her, how someone so strong could seem so normal, it truly scared her. He seemed preoccupied for some reason but he wouldn't say what it was.

* * *

"Shirou-san? Shirou-san?" I heard Miya call outside my door. "Shirou-san, it's almost time for dinner."

I was putting a few finishing touches on my equipment that I will be bringing to the hunt. I was nervous, very nervous. This apostle was strong, surviving an encounter with two Wizard Marshals is a testament to that fact. I'd probably need everything I have, my mysteries, my swords, and maybe even my marble. "Sorry Miya-san, I have an appointment at seven all the way in Ikeburo, I think I'll grab something on the way. It was around five thirty right now, I had talked to Yamato-san to move my shift today a bit earlier to work the full eight hours.

"Really? Well good luck, is it by any chance your 'customer'?" She stretched the word 'customer' sounding almost seductive, definitely trying to bring a misunderstanding into her teasing. With a serious tone she followed, "Remember Shirou-san, don't be too rough to her, you might break your 'appointment.'"

"Argh Miya-san, it's not that kind of appointment." I called to her who was probably standing on the other side of the door. "It's not like that."

I could hear a chuckle, "Sure Shirou-san, it's so not like that, but the good thing is your carnal urges won't be released upon a mourning widow and an innocent high school-er, it's a good thing. Maybe it's for the best." I could tell her teasing is really making her happy, she's such a child sometimes.

"It's not like that Miya-san."

"Keep telling yourself that." She kept laughing at me, I could imagine the serene grin she always has when she's teasing one of her tenants.

A few moments later she left, I continued working on packing well listening to her quiet footstep getting softer as she got farther away from the entrance to my room. The main thing I have right now is my runed dagger.

What I did have to work on however was wearing a tie. It's really normal for enforcers to wear formal suits when they go on an operation, it doesn't really help them in defense but really, I have doubts if wearing armor really helps. What I did do however was buying a very heavy suit along with a trench coat, inscribing a rune on it to upgrade its magical tolerance so I can reinforce it pretty hard. I've tested it before, when fully reinforced to the brink of its breaking point it's around as strong as an one inch steel plate, then again I do have some magical resistance properties.

Tugging on my red tie one more time I looked at myself through a mirror finding a sense of irony. It seemed so hilarious, someone who looked like a delinquent such as myself wearing a somewhat formal suit and tie, the image it gives is simply funny. Sighing again wishing I had my red coat and black armor which was pretty much destroyed during my demise it was unfortunate but I had to settle with suit and tie for the upcoming mission, on the bright side I will get paid if I survived.

When I walked out my room and went downstair I could feel everyone's eyes on myself.

"Oh man, Shirou-san, what's with the suit?" Takebayashi-san contributed his thoughts to the four people, including myself, in the room.

I could tell Miya was nodding with approval, "Nice Shirou-san, you'd be sure to impress the ladies with that, ah, Takehito, save your wife from this beast who will seduce women and unleash his primal desires upon them."

Hearing that I could see Ms. Hoover flinch a bit, looking up at me with wide and fearful eyes. When our eyes connected again she looked down almost as if she was in fear.

"Now Miya-san, you know very well I ain't gonna go see some lady."

"You sure? You sure look like you're going out banging." Taro said.

"Very true Taro-san, Shirou-san definitely looks like he's up to no good. What do you say Audrey-san?"

At the mention of her name the redhead looked up immediately and looked at me with a fearful expression, "Ummm...maybe?"

"Arghh, you know very well that's not the case, and no Ms. Hoover, don't be scared..." It might be my louder voice but I could see Ms. Hoover trying to hide behind the table getting far away from me. "No Ms. Hoover, don't be scared."

"Hahahaha, Shirou-san, it's okay, go unleash your manly lust. But let this poor widow walk you to the door as a tribute so you do not come looking for her at night." I only shook my head at her teasing.

Waving my hand in front of me as if to hurry her, "Lead the way, I have to meet them at seven."

She came and put her hand around my shoulders leading me to the door of Izumo Inn.

We walked in silence, as if there was an unspoken question just waiting to be asked, but we were both silent.

It was silent until we reached the door of Izumo Inn. As we stepped into the courtyard that was surrounded by the L-shaped structure she stopped and closed the door, patting me down she felt the knife in a holster behind my back. "So tonight?" She asked, she was calm as she always was.

"It had to be done."

"You mentioned you were a hunter?"

"It is true", I slowly brushed her hand off my hips and felt the knife through my suit and trench coat.

She sighed a bit, slowly opening the door and pointing to a small alter a distance away. It was a typical shrine within a Japanese household to honor the dead, within it was three pictures, a man, a group of people, and the same group of people with Miya herself in it. "They were the tenants of Izumo Inn before. Maybe fifty years ago, a bit longer perhaps." I could feel where this was going. "They were like you, young and foolish. Fighting for a cause they believed in." She paused again to look at me and wearing a sympathetic smile on her visage. "I am not stopping you Shirou-san, but you know you have a warm and loving home to come back to." She looked at me, for a moment I could feel desperation in her eyes. I could feel her longing, her wish for me to stay.

I looked down in shame at the ground, she was beautiful, Miya Asama, the one that looked like Sakura. I was ashamed I could not adhere her wishes. "You know I can't."

She smiled again, her red eyes glittering, I thought it was her supernatural powers sifting through her, then I noticed. It was not energy but tears, tears refracting the light from the moon, making her eyes glittering, unshed tears. "I know. I know." Her tears never fell, she must have felt this pain before, felt this sadness, this situation. "I know I can't stop you, but," she pointed at her house, "Izumo Inn is always open for you, come back."

I nodded a bit looking away, "I know." Then I looked at the shrine again with reinforced eyes. It was a guy with plenty of well endowed girls around him. A blonde, a red hair, a brunette, a raven hair, a girl with white hair, a small kid. It was a picture of a happy guy with multiple girls surrounding him, it was so peaceful, so beautiful, the peace I have always desired. "Where are they now?" I didn't know what I asked when I knew the answer to that question.

A single tear fell from her right eye, she tried hard to hold in her tears, "I don't know, but I never met them again." Her voice was forced, choked. "I never saw them again, those children. But they are why I keep Izumo Inn open."

"Why?"

"So they have a home to return to." I don't know when it was, but a salty taste suddenly assaulted my senses. Brushing my hand on my face I realized tears were falling from my eyes. I don't know when it was but I have started tearing up and crying.

"You have one too you know?" She asked, I couldn't stop my tears now. This was what I wanted all those time ago. I wanted to come home and see Sakura. I wanted to live a normal life and have someone to return to. I abandoned my ideals, my father's ideals to become a hero. I abandoned all that so I could have something to return to. And the kids had the thing I craved, yet they still fought for their ideals and beliefs. The kids have what I craved, and now maybe, just maybe, I will have something to wish for, something other than the cold steel within my body.

"Shirou-san, you have a home, so come back safely." I was so stunned I didn't notice her pulling me into an embrace. It wasn't a hug of the romantic kind, but more of the comforting and caring kind like a few I had shared with Aoko before after a particularly nasty job. I felt her warmth pressing against me. Her warmth, it was intoxicating almost.

After a few moments of silence I gently pushed her away and returned to my full height. I looked her in the eyes, red meeting gold, and smiled, "I'll be back."

She smiled at my words, "I'll be waiting."

At that I left, slowly at first, but quickly after I approached my bike and headed for the nearest station. I couldn't afford to be slow, I felt my glass heart move for just a second, something I cannot afford. I am afraid, afraid that if I stayed by Miya's side any longer I might not have the resolve to move on, she was too much like Sakura. But I cannot have that, a moment of weakness, I cannot.

Softly I muttered to myself, my voice silenced by the wind that carried my chant away from me, "My body is made of swords, fire is my blood and glass is my heart." Feeling more relieved after reminding myself of who I am I continued on, on to the battlefield that's not so far away.

* * *

"So you're the new recruit?" Someone asked me, it was 19:20 by now and I had arrived at Ikeburo nearly thirty minutes ago. Like Aoko said I looked for suits, and I found the lot of magi with the help of my senses as well as a general idea of what enforcers look like. The person that asked me was most likely the leader of this operation, he called himself Samuel Nightingale, an English magi sent as an enforcer from Clock Tower, obviously. I've heard of the Nightingale family, it seemed that this was the second son, the one that didn't become an heir, but his blood and circuits were thick enough for him to still become a magi from what it seems, and a pretty competent one if his appearance here is any indicator to his abilities. Then again maybe he was sent here to die, it wasn't that uncommon really, to send the second son on hunts so they would die.

From what I remember the Nightingale family were one of the more prominent within Clock Tower, a family rooted within Great Britain herself. They practiced magic that has to do with darkness as implied by their name but no one is really sure what their mysteries really are. I personally never met a Nightingale before this but what I know is that they are pretty pesky opponents with a fair amount of defense and offense combined.

"Yeah, Shirou Emiya. At your service." I held out the ID Aoko got for me, it'd be awkward if this didn't work.

He took the ID I held out for him, examined it a few times and gave me a piece of parchment to sign. Without much care I got the scroll from him and quickly signed my name as well as my occupation 'Freelancer.' He nodded a bit and moved on to the next guy. The document I signed is pretty much a recording of who showed up for the hunt and is legible for rewards. Hunts are called, and some may be specifically invited to join, but those who reply to the hunt and arrive here without specific requests just sign the sheet which records all the magi present. I didn't seek Aya Fraga's name on it, I'll assume he was invited, well, a man of his caliber probably was.

A few minutes later the Nightingale led us all out to a park and deeper into the park to a place where a magic circle was prepared. Ushering us in with a wave we all stood within the circle. This was a pretty normal spell utilized by enforcers sent by the association, a mystery named "Ladder of Air." It's concept was pretty simple, using pressurized air to send a enclosed bounded area to a specific target at a fast speed, since we aren't going very far we got there in a few seconds. It's pretty common for hunts where a huge amount of people need to be transported at the same time, it wasn't a hard mystery to make, just inconvenient to set up. It takes hours to get the circles drawn and linked, and someone has to be on the other side.

He stood there on a podium at our destination, clearing his throat to get our attention, he spoke, "As you all know, we're here to hunt an apostle." There were slight murmurs amongst the audience but not much. He continued without waiting for silence, it's really normal for the leader to make 'inspirational speeches' before an apostle hunt since no more than half are expected to survive. Against sealing designates it's more of just hunt 'em down, but against apostles it actually takes planning and all that good stuff. There won't be much of a plan since no one wants to give away their mysteries but there will be a general overview of the information on the apostle so we'd be better prepared. "The apostle we're hunting today is Vladmir Brezhnev, or 'Blood-Fire Marques'. From what the association along with the Church has gathered, he specializes in magecraft related to blood and fire, from what he showed a century ago he has the ability to spout flames from his own blood." Stingy, blood magic is rare and dangerous amongst Magi. Blood carries a lot of mana, and most people aren't willing to part with it, an apostle on the other hand..."So from what he showed during the last confrontation he can make fire, and he can somewhat control blood in the air, making mists of red matter and making it physical in structure. From what was recorded his blood is highly toxic and you must make sure never to let his blood mix with you, or you're over." There were again more murmurs amongst the crowd, from what I figured a few people came in small teams that are well familiarized with each other's mysteries, they're probably planning for the best course of action. I on the other hand came alone, so I just listened. "He has a black dagger, beware of that, there's no records of what it does but it may be a conceptual weapon or just a weapon of choice, watch out for it, and he has mystic eyes with unknown abilities. From the few apostles we've interrogated it seems that he has a reality marble of some kind but this is not confirmed." It wasn't rare for the twenty seven dead apostle ancestors to have a reality marble but seriously? A dead apostle having a reality marble is really bad news.

He went on talking a bit about the physical appearance of Blood-Fire Marques, how he's sort of caucasian with shoulder length blonde hair. The description from last century showed him with a beard but really, these info are really inaccurate since they are a century old. Blood-Fire seems to refer to his ability though, some sort of blood magic with fire, a fearsome combination if anything.

By the time we set out it was 21:00, I'm not really sure why we're hunting an apostle at night, fuck logic, in my opinion it's much better to go kill them when their sleeping, if we know where they are which we do.

* * *

Aberoth Greenham was an above average enforcer. A third generation magus born of a family of 'modern' magi that focused on combat rather than research. His father had been an enforcer, his mother had been an enforcer, his grandfather had been an enforcer, hell, his whole family breathed enforcers. He himself was especially glad when he finally made it into the...well...enforcers. He practiced magecraft that centered around his elemental affinity of earth and relied heavily on his family's reinforcement mysteries imbued within his crest. He's always been above average, doing well in the enforcer corps, hunting sealing designates and an occasional apostle, but nothing prepared him for what he is seeing.

Twenty-six, wait no, twenty-seven since another recruit came, magi appeared for the apostle hunt, this is a ridiculous number. Any number above five was quite huge, enforcers tend to work solo or in pairs, a rare team may be formed if they knew each other during training. Twenty-six? That was ridiculous, at the time he took the job he laughed, the apostle in question should run as fast as he can with tails tucked between his legs, he's about to get done in by humans.

All that silly presumptions were unfortunately, destroyed. One apostle, Vladmir Brezhnev simply breezed through the enforcers. Aberoth had gone on the job with his trusty partner Lance Locksworth, an American magus that joined the Clock Tower as a second generation magus, decent overall without much family exclusive mysteries, but decent overall. Then the duo had paired up with two other duos and a three manner, whose names he never cared to remember, to hunt this 'Blood-Fire'. Despite only having around thirty enforcers these soldiers tend to not know each other very well. They traveled around hunting, taking mercenary jobs, pretty much never seeing each other unless summoned by the Clock Tower. Imagine traveling pastors, just more blood.

Aberoth Greenham had thought nine fighting centered magi were absolutely enough against this apostle, it should be given any other circumstance, but they never got the memo this guy was as strong as the ancestors. It had started out bad when one of the duos acting as scouts got cut down immediately after making visual contact with the enemy, then as the group of nine now seven magi circled the apostle, it got from bad to worse.

"Fuck." Aberoth screamed as he held his magical crest-incrested left hand up to cast, "Crush!" He screamed, activating the magical crest his father and mother both passed down onto him. His magecraft was Earth based, centered around the word 'crush'. As the word implies his mystery, well, crushes. It utilizes the elemental prana of earth to create a crush affect by creating an explosion in the air. "Crush," he cried again aiming his left hand at the shoulder length blonde with red eyes. The main problem with the Greenham's 'crush' was its ridiculous cast time of three second. Upon pointing it needs time to invoke an explosion in thin air, so for that three seconds Aberoth was vulnerable, and of course the apostle knew that after the first exchange.

"Arghhh..." The human screamed as the vampire struck him with a fist in the stomach causing him to double backwards in pain. "Fuck."

The apostle only grinned and rose a single eyebrow. "You okay there human?"

"Fuck you. Crush"

Before his spell took effect he felt a force on his hips as he was thrown outward by a simple kick by the immortal. "You're not so strong are you?"

"Reinforce body." Greenham uttered as he reapplied the reinforcement spell after his 'armor' broke from the latest exchange. Driving his hand onto the ground he screamed his second mystery, "Spikes." And earthen spikes started protruding the surface expanding outwards in a circle. The Greenham family was not centered in any specific style, whatever that could be used to fight was used. This was a basic application of alchemy with Earth prana, causing spikes to rise from the ground.

Unfortunately, the speed of the spikes was no good as it simply broke on contact with the apostle's hard skin. But Aberoth was only buying time for himself to gather his bearing. His whole team of nine now one magus had been slaughtered, his distress signal had been sent minutes ago, now he needed to stall for backup. Putting both his reinforced fists in front of him the enforcer took the stance of a boxer with low center of gravity and slightly crouching.

"Ah, there's still fight in you, Bravo. Bravo." The blonde vampire said as he watched Aberoth get into his stance. "Worry not my friend, as I had said, I shall use no magecraft on you." This apostle was proud and egotistic, upon contact he claimed he didn't need to use magecraft to kill the 'lower race'. And true to his word he's been killing the magi with pure physical capabilities along.

Then he disappeared.

Reacting based on instincts and hoping for the best Aberoth turned and punched. "Crush."

True to his predictions he caught Vladmir as he tried to blindside the human, the human's fist making contact with his outstretched arm. "Argghhhh..." The vampire screamed as Aberoth's magic took place instantly. What Vladmir didn't know was that the Greenhams had been close ranged fighters. Their mystery's cast time was completely removed if used through contact.

Capitalizing on the vampire's sudden pain and dropped guard Aberoth followed with a left jab and a right hook, a typical one-two combo. "Crush, crush." He screamed as his mood started alleviating, he was making contact, doing good damage.

"Fuckkk, fuck..." The vampire screamed as his hand was shredded as two more explosions rocked into him. His lack of concentration resulted in another punch in the face with the accompanied 'crush'.

Feeling the blood of the vampire wash over him Aberoth was relieved. 'Success, I killed him.' He cried to himself, he, a human, killed an apostle that destroyed his team, how great. His final hit was a good finisher, the Greenhams mysteries were truly fearsome at close range. "Yes." He loved the feeling, the feeling of adrenaline as he bathed in the blood of his downed enemy.

Then he froze, "Yes what?" Aberoth turned to the downed corpse he had punched away with his three hit combo, instead of finding a lump of dead meat he saw Vladmir standing there, grinning at him with the same smile and a raised eyebrow as if he was sympathizing with the human enforcer. "It actually did hurt a bit human, for that I'd have to commend you, and you forced me to use my magecraft, how very interesting." The last thing the heir of Greenham saw was his adversary snapping his finger, then he felt as his body was on fire.

* * *

A/N:

I noticed I cut it off as a cliffhanger, or would be but it really isn't climaxing yet

I wanted to make it longer but I'm not sure when I'd update then, hella busy

I'm not sure about this myself but I believe the DAA are like aristocrats within DAs, I'm not sure what the requirements are, but I'm just making so that this one can rival the other DAAs in power since I believe the ancestors are supposed to be like hyper strong even compared to the DAs.

There isn't much to say about this chapter, a bit of character development, Shirou not being a jerk anymore, some more Seikirei references which i promise isn't really part of the story, it just felt like it fits

I originally wanted Aoko to join the hunt with Emiya, but felt that there might be too much collateral damage.

There hasn't been many negative reviews, or any reviews for that matter, am I disappointing anyone?

I know someone really hated how Sakura died and shit, but yeah, shit happens.

I appreciate anyone who supports this story, takes the time to read and review, I appreciate it

Right, there was this flame that i never got to reading...wait a sec, let me go read and respond here

Here:

The Hero of the End: umm chapter 3 it says so it's about Emiya's assimilation in society

I agree Aoko is strong, but I mentioned the Freezing field fucks up magic, makes it slower, so yeah, even AOko would have massive problems, along with all the other non enforcer magi who fought with strong long range spells trying to snipe the enemy like a cannon. These strong spells A-rank above and sht will get its energy siphoned the longer it travels through air (assuming it's like laser) and it gets slowed so the more time nature corrupts it, and NOVAs have a shield around them ( at least the newer ones do).

About capturing it, well try capturing a 50 stories thingy, you could probably hollow out the corpse and make a building right there

I never mentioned Zelretch cause he wasn't there, to tell the truth he doesn't really care, this is just one of the many worlds he's been to and it's just a speculation but there is a chance he isn't even from this world since his origins are sketchy at best.  
ONe of the main reason the normal magi of clock tower failed is how they fought. They fought like cannons, using their mysteries from far away and the NOVA's March(i forgot what I called it) creates soldiers with physical aspects of the dead, which is pretty strong, many times stronger than a human, and has no regard for its own life.

I'd say if they rematched the magi can probably find a way around the freezing field and stuff, but when taken by surprised it's just "surprise butt sex."

OK, done with that, hope he was reading since I didn't reply to him :O

UMM, I dedicate this chapter to my first fanfic ever Deprived (Harry Potter fanfic), forgot the author's name, it's good but discontinued

Yeah, R&R I like reviews, I respond to them most of the time

YAYYYY :P

R&R

-Wiltheavatar


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